Addressing Asian American mental health disparities: Putting community-based research principles to work.

Abstract

This article provides a brief summary of existing literature on mental health disparities for Asian Americans. Emerging evidence suggests that in the aggregate, Asian Americans appear to have lower lifetime and 12-month prevalence rate for psychiatric disorders than other racial/ethnic groups, as judged by the Western psychiatric criteria. However, disparities continue to exist for segments of Asian American populations with respect to rates of mental illness, as well as access to care and treatment. We review a number of cultural and structural factors that sustain disparities and identify questions that remain unresolved with respect to the continuing disparities. Finally, drawing from public health and health disparities research, we discuss the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach as a promising avenue for addressing the remaining questions in mental health disparities research. Specifically, we argue that CBPR approaches are well suited to address the nature of distress and help-seeking process within particular communal and ethnocultural contexts and to promote dialogue between Asian American community members, researchers, and practitioners.

Identifying evidence of effectiveness in the co-creation of research: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the international healthcare literature

“…Reviews contained quantitative and qualitative studies, while the most reviewed approach was Community-Based Participatory Research (32%). 20 , 22 , 26 , 30 , 43 , 46–49 , 53–55 , 57 , 60–62 Multiple geographical settings were covered, but 36% of reviews had a specific US focus 18–20 , 22 , 26 , 28 , 38 , 41–44 , 48 , 53–55 , 57 , 60 , 61 ( Supplementary Material 3 ).…”

Mental Health Service Use and Perceived Unmet Needs for Mental Health Care in Asian Americans

“…On the other hand, it calls concerns about the quality of services and user satisfaction. In general, negative experiences with received services such as dissatisfaction, discrimination, and ineffectiveness have a detrimental impact on individuals' future care-seeking processes; Asian Americans in particular may be prone to such impact (Okazaki et al 2014).…”

Unmet Mental Health Care Needs among Asian Americans 10–11 Years After Exposure to the World Trade Center Attack

“…The lack of association between previous mental health service use and UMHCN found in this study contrasts with findings from most studies in which previous consumers were more likely to indicate unmet needs [5,27], potentially due to dissatisfaction with the quality of treatment, recognition of potential help that they cannot access, or limitations of services in providing desired help after being exposed to the formal mental health care system [5]. This nonsignificant finding was unexpected also because it contradicts with our expectation that there would be higher dissatisfaction with mental health treatment among Asians due to poorer quality of service [4] and lower therapeutic alliance due to cultural and linguistic barriers [34,35]. It is possible that the smaller proportion of Asian Americans having received mental health services (e.g., compared to the non-Hispanic white group, 15.7% vs. 26.6%; the authors, in press) limited statistical power.…”

“…However, for many minorities, including Asians, this is harder to attain due to the different socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds between consumers and service providers [32,33,34]. Studies indicate that minorities often find that their service providers do not listen to or understand them [35,36]. For mental health treatment to be effective, verbal communication between recipients and providers is of paramount importance so that consumers’ subjective experience can be understood and providers can effectively monitor and provide treatment.…”