• Ana Glória Fonseca, Sara S Dias, Joao Luis Baptista, and Jorge Torgal.
• Public Health Department, NOVA Medical School (Faculdade Ciências Médicas), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (NOVA Lisbon University), Campo Mártires da Pátria, 130. 1169-056 Lisboa, Portugal.
• J Travel Med. 2017 Sep 1; 24 (6).

BackgroundPsychological health problems are highlighted among the most relevant disease patterns in expatriates. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological well-being in Portuguese expatriates in Angola and Mozambique, considering the increasing expatriation wave.MethodsA cross-sectional self-administered web survey was conducted in a sample of 352 Portuguese civil expatriates in Angola and Mozambique. Clinically significant psychological distress was determined using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 and associated factors were studied using multiple logistic regression analysis.ResultsGHQ-12 items showed good internal consistency as reflected by the Cronbach's alpha. One-third of the screened expatriates corresponded to cases of clinically significant psychological distress. Age, country of birth, self-reported psychological symptoms and self-perception of general health in the previous 3 months were identified as independent variables associated with psychological distress.ConclusionsIncreasing awareness and monitoring expatriates mental health should be in the health agenda, furthermore considering them a risk group in need of evidence-based mental health expatriate preparedness. The use of user-friendly validated tools, such as GHQ-12, allowing objective assessment and surveillance of these hard to reach populations should be reinforced.© International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

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