Mental health help-seeking attitudes, utilization, and intentions among older Chinese immigrants in Canada

Abstract

Older Chinese participants exhibited less positive attitudes that were significantly associated with Chinese cultural beliefs and values. Implications for practice with older Chinese adults are also discussed.

Investigating institutional abuse survivors’ help-seeking attitudes with the Inventory of Attitudes towards Seeking Mental Health Services

“…IASMHS has been used to investigate attitudes in college students (Mackenzie et al, 2004; Mojaverian, Hashimoto, & Kim, 2012; Wahto & Swift, 2016; Yousaf, Popat, & Hunter, 2015), adolescents (Munson, Floersch, & Townsend, 2010), older adults (Kessler, Agines, & Bowen, 2014), psychotherapy clients (Elkins, Swift, & Campbell, 2016), and specific ethnic groups: Alaska natives (Freitas-Murrell & Swift, 2015), South Asians (Loya, Reddy, & Hinshaw, 2010), Chinese immigrants (Tieu & Konnert, 2014), and African Americans (Ward et al, 2013; Watson & Hunter, 2015). Only a few studies screened for mental disorders (Mackenzie et al, 2006; Mesidor & Sly, 2014; Munson et al, 2010; Troeung, Gasson, & Egan, 2015; Ward et al, 2013; Watson & Hunter, 2015) and intentions to (or actual) mental health service use (Freitas-Murrell & Swift, 2015; James & Buttle, 2008; Martin & Howe, 2016; Tieu & Konnert, 2014).…”

“…Only a few studies screened for mental disorders (Mackenzie et al, 2006; Mesidor & Sly, 2014; Munson et al, 2010; Troeung, Gasson, & Egan, 2015; Ward et al, 2013; Watson & Hunter, 2015) and intentions to (or actual) mental health service use (Freitas-Murrell & Swift, 2015; James & Buttle, 2008; Martin & Howe, 2016; Tieu & Konnert, 2014). Two studies considered both mental disorders and intentions to/or actual mental health service use (Mackenzie et al, 2006; Mesidor & Sly, 2014).…”

Challenges and adjustments in maintaining health and well‐being of older Asian immigrants in New Zealand: An integrative review

“…In New Zealand, Chinese, Korean, Indian and South‐East Asian immigrants (both older and middle‐aged) were cited as having issues with accessing mainstream health‐care services, reflected similar patterns internationally, in Canada and the United Kingdom . International studies also raised concerns over older Chinese immigrants’ lack of help‐seeking attitudes and behaviours and has identified poor health literacy in older Asian immigrant communities, particularly for South Asian and Vietnamese populations in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, showing difficulty understanding and communicating about cancer screening practices . Levels of health literacy have also been found to be positively correlated with self‐rated health when studied in US‐based older Chinese immigrants .…”

“…International research recommends the development of interventions to enhance older Asian immigrants’ health literacy and knowledge of health services. Of critical importance was promoting the use of preventative services and addressing stigma surrounding mental illness …”

Understanding the reasons why Chinese older people do not wish to tell their life stories

“…, Wu et al . , Tieu & Konnert ). Given that the Chinese older population is relatively under‐researched (Zeng et al .…”