Mental Health Beliefs, Practices, and Knowledge of Chinese American Immigrant Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the mental health beliefs and practices of Chinese American immigrant women. A two-part design using both qualitative and quantitative techniques was employed. The first step utilized focus group (n = 14) and key informant (n = 2) interviews to discover the beliefs, practices, and knowledge about mental health of this population. Content analysis was used to examine and condense the qualitative data. After completion of the qualitative component, 72 women were recruited to complete a set of questionnaires, which included a demographic questionnaire, culture and work subscale, and the mental health portion of the Health Behavior Scale of the Survey of Chinese American Mental Health (NRCAAMH, 1993). Pearson product-moment correlations and regression analysis were used to analyze the quantitative data. Content analysis found that the cultural value placed on the avoidance of shame, pragmatism that results in the use of both Western and traditional Chinese practitioners and treatments, and the inadequacy of Western-type services to meet the needs of the Chinese American immigrant population act as barriers to utilization of these services. These results are cross-validated by the quantitative findings. The importance of culture in determining the pathway to care was supported by the finding that higher levels of acculturation are related to greater use of mental health services.