Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): Arabic - Vacau

CHAPTER ONE
MENTAL HEALTH AND CALD COMMUNITIES
The cultural diversity of Australia is demonstrated by data on countries of birth of
the population. 23.3% of the Australian population is overseas born, and in
Western Australia the proportion is even higher at 29.3% (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2002; Plant, 1999). Data on the top ten source countries of immigrants
to Australia according to the 2001 Australian census are presented in Table 1.
TABLE 1:
TOP 10 SOURCE COUNTRIES OF IMMIGRANTS TO AUSTRALIA AT THE 2001 CENSUS
Source Country, ranked by population
Population
size at 2001 Census
United Kingdom/Ireland 1,036,245
New Zealand 355,765
Italy 218,718
Vietnam 154,831
People’s Republic of China 142,780
Greece 116,431
Germany 103,942
Phillippines 95,452
The Netherlands 83,324
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002).
As the data demonstrate, while the majority of those who are overseas-born are
from the English-speaking countries of the United Kingdom and New Zealand,
significant numbers are from countries where the primary language is not English.
In addition, according to the 1996 census, of the 13,227,776 people born in
Australia, 5,439,310 reported that at least one parent was born overseas. This is
30% of the total Australian population.
It should also be noted that there is a changing trend in the source countries of
immigrants, with the proportion from Asian countries increasing. Immigrants from
Asian countries tend to be older than other immigrants, have more difficulty
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