Somatoform Disorder in British South Asians

Somatic Syndrome Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Somatoform Disorder in British South Asians - What Are the Patients' Views?

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02349256
• Other study ID #: 123389
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• First received: January 22, 2015
• Last updated: January 22, 2015
• Start date: December 2014

Study information

• Verified date: January 2015
• Source: Global Health Primary Care Research and Innovation and Network
• Contact: Issak Bhojani, BSc, PhD, MB
• Phone: 01254 617440
• Email: issak.bhojani[@]nhs.net
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United Kingdom: National Health Service
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The study uses in depth interviews to understand their experience of somatoform disorder, possible explanations and their experience of somatoform disorder, possible explanations and their understanding of treatments, especially their ideas about psychosocial treatments.

Description:

"Somatoform" or "functional" syndromes are those that present with physical symptoms, not explained by well-recognized medical illness. Such symptoms are common in all settings and studies have reported that they accounted for one-fifth of all new presentations in primary care. Literature suggests that they are associated with significant levels of psychological distress, disability, impairments in quality of life and high levels of healthcare utilization. Research also suggests that medically unexplained symptoms cause similar (or higher) levels of disability than medically explained symptoms in primary care settings. There have been a number of studies that have looked at the cognitive and behavioural basis of somatisation, and treatment strategies have been trialed based upon a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)-led approach for these patients.

In British South Asian patients the difficulties in managing this condition are further compounded as culture can have an important role in shaping the experience, interpretation & clinical presentation of emotional distress. Patel reported that GPs found it very challenging to manage South Asian patients with chronic pain due to the way they present with pain, and a greater likelihood of psychosomatic presentations. Language differences as well as cultural differences contributed to the challenges, especially among first- generation South Asians. Further, they felt that self-management strategies were difficult to address. The author concludes by saying 'cultural influences play an important role in the consultation process where patients' behaviour is often bound in their cultural view of health care. (South Asian) patients' presentation of their condition makes diagnosis difficult but can also lead to miscommunication'.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 16
• Est. primary completion date: May 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Men and women of self-ascribed British South Asian origin.

• Over the age of 18 years.

• Able to understand spoken and written English and/or Urdu, Gujarati.

• Able to provide written informed consent.

• Registered with the GP practice.

• criteria for somatoform disorder (determined by PHQ15).

Exclusion Criteria:

• individuals with diagnosed physical or learning disability

• any form of psychosis.

Study Design

Observational Model: Case-Only, Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Somatic Syndrome Disorder
• Somatoform Disorders

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Kingdom	Shifa Surgery	Blackburn

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Global Health Primary Care Research and Innovation and Network	University of Manchester

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Kingdom, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Qualitative Interview	Individual qualitative interviews with a group of British South Asians to explore their understanding of somatoform disorder and available therapies. These findings will then be used to inform the development of culturally adapted Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for somatisation in British South Asians.	1	No