Psychopathology in the Dogon Plateau: an assessment using the QDSM and principal components analysis

Abstract

Background: The present paper reports the findings of principal components analysis performed on the basis of answers to the Questionnaire pour le Depistage en Santé Mentale (QDSM) administered to subjects from the Bandiagara plateau (Mali), who had been evaluated in a previously published report. Methods: The study sample was made up of 466 subjects (253 males, 213 females), 273 of whom belonged to the Dogon ethnic group, 163 were Peul and the remaining 30 belonged to other groups (Sonrai, Bozo, Tuareg, Bambara). All subjects were submitted to QDSM, a structured interview derived from the Self Reporting Questionnaire. Data obtained were processed by means of principal components analysis, in order to obtain syndromic aggregations. Results: Eight factors with an Eigen value greater than 1 were extracted, which provided sufficient explanation for the overall variance observed among the 23 items. These factors may be termed as follows: Sadness (factor 1); Dysphoria (factor 2); Nightmares (factor 3); Persecution (factor 4); Somatic symptoms (factor 5); Special powers (factor 6); Hopelessness (factor 7); Loss of Interest (factor 8). Conclusions: The findings from this study support the hypothesis of an independence of “psychosomatic” from depressive symptoms. In particular, contrary to some evidence derived from other African studies, the present research appears to suggest a possible counterposition of these two ways of expressing depression, commonly considered as autonomous.