Counselling young immigrant women worried about problems related to the protection of 'family honour'--from the perspective of midwives and counsellors at youth health clinics.

Background: Annually, thousands of women are exposed to violence and murder by male relatives in the name of family honour. In Sweden young women with immigrant backgrounds consult primary healthcare services for problems related to the protection of 'family honour' (PFH). However, there is little knowledge about how to manage this specific type of family violence in the primary healthcare systems of industrialized countries.

Opinions on early-age marriage and marriage customs among Kurdish-speaking women in southeast Turkey.

Objectives: For women, marriage before the age of 18 years has adverse consequences for physical, mental and emotional well-being and constitutes a barrier for continued education. According to a national survey, about 50% of all women in Eastern Turkey were aged under 18 years at first marriage.

Methods: This study explored women's opinions and experiences of early marriage and culture-specific marriage customs in the province of Diyarbakir, a region of Turkey populated mostly by people of Kurdish ethnicity.

Psychological distress among Kurdish immigrants in Sweden.

Aims: To analyse whether there is an association between sex and poor self-reported health (SRH) and psychological distress in Kurdish immigrants.

Methods: This cross-sectional study is based on a sample consisting of immigrants, aged 27- 60 years, with self-reported Kurdish ethnicity (n=111, men; n=86, women) in Sweden originating from Iran and Turkey. It is based on data collected in 1996 from the first Swedish National Survey on the living conditions of immigrant groups conducted by Statistics Sweden.

Poor self-reported health and sleeping difficulties among Kurdish immigrant men in Sweden.

This study explores the association between ethnicity and poor self-reported health and psychological distress, sleeping difficulties, and use of psychotropic drugs among immigrant Kurdish men and native Swedish men, based on data from the first Swedish National Survey of Immigrants and the Swedish Level-of-Living Surveys collected in 1996 by Statistics Sweden. The age-adjusted odds of poor self-reported health and sleeping difficulties among Kurdish men was about 3.5 times higher than among Swedish men.

Breastfeeding patterns, beliefs and attitudes among Kurdish mothers in Diyarbakir, Turkey.

Aim: The aim was to rapidly assess existing breastfeeding patterns, beliefs and attitudes in the province of Diyarbakir, a socio-economically disadvantaged region of Turkey.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey exploring demographic and breastfeeding patterns was carried out among 921 mothers with children 6-18 mo of age. Results were quantitatively analysed.

Risk factors for coronary heart disease among immigrant women from Iran and Turkey, compared to women of Swedish ethnicity.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare a group of immigrant women from the Middle East living in Sweden to Swedish-born controls regarding the prevalence of certain cardiovascular risk factors.

Design: Health survey of randomly selected foreign-born women and women native in Sweden.

Setting: Uppsala, Sweden.