Table 1.
Overview of texts included in the review
| Reference | Type | Population | Methods | Relevant topics covered | Applied orientation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adhikari et al. (2015) | Article | Children (n = 24), parents (n = 48), schoolteachers (n = 8), and key informants (n = 22) | Free list interviews and key informant interviews | Interpretations of and responses to child behavioral problems | Yes |
| Boehnke et al. (1998) | Article | Undergraduate students in Nepal (n = 530) and two other countries | Schwartz Value Survey, Goldenring-Doctor Scale of Existential Worries, and various measures of mental health | Influence of cultural values on individual worries and mental health outcomes | Yes |
| Böker (1992) | Article | Psychiatric patients at a government mental hospital and their relatives (n = 110) | Semi-structured/narrative interviews | Concepts of and attitudes toward mental illness, help-seeking pathways, causal attributions | Yes |
| Bragin et al. (2014) | Article | Women aged 18–25 and key informants in Nepal (n = 437) and two other countries | Qualitative phenomenological: stepwise ethnographic exploration and aspects of the participatory ranking method (focus groups and interviews) | Cultural concepts of psychosocial wellbeing | Yes |
| Burkey et al. (2016a) | Article | Parents, teachers, and peers (n = 30); children (n = 60) | Free lists, interviews with parents and teachers, pilot testing of Disruptive Behavior international Scale-Nepal version (DBIS-N) | Cultural concepts of child behavior problems and overlap with Western diagnostic criteria | Yes |
| Burkey et al. (2016b) | Article | Parents, teachers, and community leaders familiar with child-rearing (n = 40) and children (n = 9) | In-depth interviews and focus groups, pile sort interviews, and direct observations | Cultural concepts of child behavior problems and appropriate responses | Yes |
| Chase & Bhattarai (2013) | Article | Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and the USA (n = 62) | Ethnographic (semi-structured interviews and participant observation) | Cultural concepts of wellbeing and ethnopsychology of resilience | Yes |
| Clarke et al. (2014) | Article | Distressed mothers, traditional healers, and community members (n = 22) | Semi-structured interviews, grounded theory analysis | Cultural concepts of distress, explanatory models, help-seeking pathways | Yes |
| Evers et al. (2016) | Article | Tharu ethnicity children, parents, and community members exposed to civil conflict | Focus groups, individual interviews, inventory of children's daily activities and walkabouts | Cultural concepts of trauma, importance of living and dead relations | Yes |
| Furr (2004) | Article | Teachers in Nepal (n = 276) | Self-developed instrument gauging ‘Western orientation’ and tendency to medicalize | Concepts of mental illness and medicalization | No |
| Furr (2005) | Article | Teachers in Nepal (n = 276) | Self-developed instrument gauging ‘Western orientation’ and Costello–Comprey Depression and Anxiety Scale | Relationship between cultural values and mental health | No |
| Harper (2014) | Book chapter | Health professionals, traditional healers, and patients | Ethnography (interviews and participant observation) | Traditional healing methods, illness categories, somatization, causal attributions | No |
| Heys et al. (2017) | Article | Parents of autistic and non-autistic children and health and education professionals (n = 106) | Focus groups and semi-structured interviews | Knowledge and awareness of autism and its impacts | Yes |
| Hoge et al. (2006) | Article | Outpatients with general anxiety disorder in Nepal (n = 30) and America (n = 23) | Beck Anxiety Inventory questionnaire | Cultural differences in presentation of anxiety | Yes |
| Jack et al. (2010) | Book chapter | Masters and undergraduate students (n = 95; for instrument adaptation); male and female clients of outpatient psychiatric clinics (n = 96) | Instrument adaptation through translation monitoring process and testing (van Ommeren et al. 1999), semi-structured interviews, focus groups, Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and Silencing the Self Scale based self-reports | Relationship between cultural gender norms and depression | No |
| Jolly (1999) | Article | One Nepali soldier in British army | Case study | Illness concepts, traditional healing | No |
| Jordans et al. (2003) | Article | N/A | Reflection on experience adapting and implementing psychosocial counsellor training | Cultural adaptations for counselling in Nepal, psychosocial problems specific to cultural context | Yes |
| Kaplan (1999) | Doctoral thesis | Adults (n = 390) | Structured interview including Nepali Psychiatric Symptom Checklist and questions about causes, effects, and treatments of the symptoms | Beliefs about meaning of psychiatric symptomology and appropriate treatments | Yes |
| Kim et al. (2017) | Article | Widows and key informants (n = 37 for interviews; n = 20 for focus groups) | Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions using the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue | Cultural concepts of grief and grief-related pathology | Yes |
| Kohrt & Bourey (2016) | Article | Female child soldiers in Nepal (n = 13) | Structured vignette interviews | Influence of cultural context on comorbid mental health and reproductive health problems | Yes |
| Kohrt & Harper (2008) | Article | Health professionals (including traditional healers), clients, and lay community members | Literature review and ethnographic research including interviews and participant observation | Concepts of self and mind–body connection, help-seeking pathways, stigma | Yes |
| Kohrt & Hruschka (2010) | Article | Lay community members and professionals in psychosocial organizations in Kathmandu | Semi-structured interviews, survey (comprising free lists and an emotion questionnaire), comparison tasks, and observant participation | Concepts of trauma and vulnerability to trauma, idioms of distress | Yes |
| Kohrt & Maharjan (2009) | Article | Key informants from 10 districts of Nepal (n = 21) | Key informant interviews | Ethnopsychology of child development and violence | Yes |
| Kohrt et al. (2012) | Article | Bhutanese refugees | Theoretical discussion | Culturally adapted psychotherapeutic interventions | Yes |
| Kohrt et al. (2005) | Article | Adults (n = 316; subgroup of 65 participants with jhum-jhum) | Standard interview process including questions about life history, depression (BDI), anxiety (BAI), and stressful life events (SLERS); ethnographic history; and medical exam | Cultural differences in somatization: relationship of jhum-jhum (common somatic complaint) with depression | Yes |
| Kohrt et al. (2009) | Article | Adults (n = 307, high and low castes) | Ethnography, Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventories | Relationship between caste and mental health | Yes |
| Kohrt et al. (2011) | Article | Children (n = 64 for focus groups during transcultural translation process; n = 162 for validation) | Transcultural translation and validation of Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS) and Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS), validated using Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and Global Assessment of Psychosocial Disability | Transcultural translation and adaptation of instruments, concepts of depression and trauma | Yes |
| Kohrt et al. (2016) | Article | Representative adult sample for focus groups during transcultural translation process (n = 38); primary care patients for validation (n = 125) | Transcultural translation and administration of Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and two screening items based on idioms of distress; CIDI used to validate | Idioms of distress, transcultural translation and adaptation of instruments | Yes |
| Kohrt (2009) | Article | Adults (n = 316, high and low castes) | Historical discourse analysis and General Health Questionnaire | Relationship between caste and mental health | Yes |
| Kohrt (2015) | Book chapter | Children, community members, and key informants (n = 152 for interviews; n = 24 for case studies, n = 142 for survey) | Narrative focus group discussions (25 groups), key informant interviews, case studies and quantitative survey of child soldiers | Relationship between traditional rituals and psychosocial wellbeing | Yes |
| Pach III (1998) | Book chapter | Villagers described as being baulāhā (mad) and other community members | Surveys, ethnographic interviews, and observation | Cultural concepts and social implications of madness | No |
| Peters (1978) | Article | Tamang ethnic group in Nepal | Interviews and observation | Traditional healing system (shamanism) and parallels with psychotherapy | No |
| Peters (1981) | Book | Tamang ethnic group in Nepal | Interviews and observation | Traditional healing system (shamanism) and parallels with psychotherapy | No |
| Sapkota et al. (2014) | Article | Possessed and non-possessed community members, their family members, and traditional healers | Pilot study, case–control study, focus groups | Cultural context and psychosocial factors associated with spirit possession | Yes |
| Sharma & van Ommeren (1998) | Article | Tortured Bhutanese refugees in Nepal (n = 10 for narrative analysis, n = 25 for case notes) | Narrative analysis, analysis of case notes, focus groups | Idioms of distress | Yes |
| Skultans (1988) | Article | Patients of a tantric healer (n = 137) including 69 with mental illness and patients of an outpatient clinic of a mental hospital (n = 69) | Interview | Indigenous healing (shamanism), causal attributions | No |
| Soubrouillard (1995) | Doctoral thesis | Shamans/faith healers (n = 5) | In-depth interviews with healers | Indigenous healing and mental illness, causal attributions | No |
| Tol et al. (2005) | Article | Clients in psychosocial counselling | Case studies | Counselling in Nepali cultural context | Yes |