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Ethnic differences in the context and experience of psychiatric illness: a qualitative study

A study carried out on behalf of the Department of Health by the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Royal Free and University College Medical School

Over the past decade a series of surveys on the mental health of the population of Great Britain has been commissioned by the Department of Health, Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales (or their predecessors). The series began in 1993, with a survey of the adult population aged between 16 and 64 living in private households in Great Britain. Since then, additional surveys have covered children aged 5 to 15 living in private households, and prisoners in England and Wales. The study reported here was conducted alongside a second survey of the adult population covering those aged between 16 and 74 and living in private households throughout Great Britain, but this study has as it focus five of the main ethnic minority groups in England (Bangladeshi, Caribbean, Indian, Irish and Pakistani people), together with a general population White group to provide a point of comparison. This study consisted of both a quantitative survey (reported on elsewhere) and a qualitative study, which is reported on here. This involved follow-up in-depth interviews with a subsample of those included in the quantitative survey.