Chronic Fatigue & Ethnicity

本研究调查了六个民族的疲劳和慢性疲劳类疾病。先前的研究表明，慢性疲劳相关疾病在少数民族中并不常见。在美国的研究表明，在少数民族中，疲劳和相关疾病的患病率更高。在英国，我们对最大的种族群体的信息不足。如果患病率存在种族差异，那么不同群体的风险因素可能不同，这可能会给我们提供线索，了解疲劳和相关疾病是如何受到文化因素的影响的，或者它们是否可以被理解为对文化适应、孤立或其他压力源（如歧视）的反应。我们还可以发现使用服务的频率，以及人们对自己状况的个人解释，是否会影响患疲劳相关疾病的可能性。因此，目前，我们不知道是否应该改变针对少数民族的干预措施，或者是否少数民族存在类似的综合征，只是未被识别，使残疾永久化，缺乏及时的干预。我们也不知道是否有文化因素而不是社会因素被忽视，不仅在少数民族中，而且在大多数人口中。例如，诸如社会支持、锻炼、休闲活动或宗教活动等应对行为可能有助于某些种族群体减少疲劳等疾病的风险。诸如此类的发现可能有助于改进或开发未来的干预措施。我们提出的研究利用了已经收集的数据，并可用于进一步分析。它被保存在一个数据档案中，供公众和研究界查阅。因此，这项工作的成本被降到最低。我们将能够分析这些数据，以确定哪些社会和文化风险因素与疲劳等疾病以及常见的精神健康问题有关。风险因素可以从统计分析、定性访谈和笔录中辨别出来，也可以从受试者认为是什么原因导致疲劳的问题中辨别出来：其中的解释是运动、药物、疾病等。因此，我们从该主题中获得个人观点，并提供统计信息以评估特定风险因素的相关性。

This study investigates fatigue and chronic fatigue like illnesses in six ethnic groups. Previous studies show that chronic fatigue related illnesses are uncommon among ethnic groups. Studies in the US show a higher prevalence of fatigue and associated illnesses among ethnic groups. In the UK we have inadequate information on the largest ethnic groups. If there are ethnic variations in prevalence, then risk factors may differ across groups, and this may give us clues about how fatigue and related illnesses are influenced by cultural factors, or whether they can be understood as a response to cultural adaptation, isolation, or other stressors such as discrimination. We can also find out if the frequency of service use, and personal explanations that people give for their condition, influence the likelihood of having a fatigue related illness. Therefore, at the moment, we do not know whether the interventions offered should be changed for ethnic groups, or whether ethnic groups present with similar syndromes that are just not recognized, perpetuating disability and a lack of timely intervention. We also do not know whether there are cultural rather than social factors that are neglected, not only in ethnic groups, but also in majority population. For example, coping behaviours such as social support, or exercise, or leisure activities, or religious activities may help some ethnic groups to reduce their risk of fatigue like illness. Findings such as this may help refine or develop future interventions. The study we propose exploits data that is already collected and is available for further analysis. It is deposited in a data archive which is accessible to the public and research community. Therefore the costs of the work are minimized. We will be able to analyze these data to identify which social, and cultural risk factors are influential related to having fatigue like illnesses, and to common mental health problems. The risk factors can be discerned from the statistical analyses, from the qualitative interviews and transcripts, and from questions about what the subject thought was the cause of fatigue: amongst the explanations is exercise, medication, illness etc. We therefore have a personal view from the subject, alongside statistical information to assess relevance of specific risk factors.