The relationship between somatic expression, psychological distress and GP consultation in two cultural groups

Abstract

This article sets out to examine the relationship between cultural and demographic factors and psychological distress, somatic expression of distress and frequency of general practitioner (GP) consultation. The investigation was carried out in two cultural groups, British Asians living in the UK and native White British residents. It was hypothesised that the British Asian group would have higher somatisation scores than the British group. Further, it was hypothesised that these would be associated with frequency of GP consultations. Participants were 146 adults attending two GP surgeries. They answered a questionnaire on frequency of GP consultation and completed two questionnaires, the Bradford Somatic Inventory (Mumford, D.B. (1989). Somatic sensation and psychological distress among students in Britain and Pakistan. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 321–326.) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972). Multiple regressions showed culture as being a significant predictor of somatic expression of distress. Demographic variables, such as income and age, were found to be also significant. Proficiency in English, in the British Asian sample, had a significant effect on somatic expression. There was a strong association between somatic expression of distress, psychological distress and frequency of GP visits for the British Asian sample and not for the British sample. Somatic expression predicted GP visits for the British Asian sample only. Implications for GP consultations and diagnostic procedures are discussed.

Keywords:

• somatic
• psychological distress
• consultation
• culture
• psychological distress