Conceptualizing depression in Vietnam: Primary health care providers’ explanatory models of depression:

The purpose of this qualitative study was to elicit the explanatory models (EMs) of primary healthcare providers (PHPs) in Vietnam in order to (a) understand if and how the concept of depression is understood in Vietnam from the perspective of nonspecialist providers and community members, and (b) to inform the process of introducing services for depression in primary care in Vietnam. We conducted semistructured interviews with 30 PHPs in one rural and one urban district of Hanoi, Vietnam in 2014. We found that although PHPs possess low levels of formal knowledge about depression, they provide consistent accounts of its symptoms and aetiology among their patient population, suggesting that depression is a relevant concept in Vietnam. PHPs describe a predominantly psychosocial understanding of depression, with little mention of either affective symptoms or neurological aetiology. This implies that, with enhanced training, psychosocial approaches to depression care would be appropriate and acceptable in thi...