Counseling Professionals in Community Outreach: An Anxiety Support Group for Vietnamese Immigrant Women in Taiwan

Abstract

Vietnamese immigrant women in Taiwan are at increased risk of anxiety, and community-based group interventions can provide them an accessible form of assistance. Understanding and serving the counseling needs of Vietnamese immigrant women is a new challenge for Taiwan counseling professionals. This study presents the results of outreach efforts by the university counseling staff member offering counseling services for immigrant women in a rural community. A support group is used to address the anxiety among Vietnamese immigrant women. A sample of ten Vietnamese immigrant women participated in the intervention group, and their participation was subjected to quantitative study and analysis using the subscales of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Results indicated no significant changes for the STAI-State and the STAI-Trait, but a significant change for the SIAS, suggesting that the social interaction anxiety measures may be the more relevant outcome indicators than the measures of state and trait anxiety in supporting group intervention. Implications are considered for current group intervention practices in rural communities with the aim to help the counseling professionals better understand the practice of group intervention in the context of immigrant women suffering from anxiety.