Vietnamese Australians Research Articles

Cultural Adaptation and Integration of the Vietnamese Community in Australia

The Vietnamese community in Australia has faced numerous challenges during its integration into Australian society. Starting with language barriers and cultural differences, the community has had to navigate a complex set of social, economic, and political factors to establish its position in the country. Despite these obstacles, they have maintained their cultural identity while embracing the Australian way of life. One of the most significant contributions of the Vietnamese community to Australian society has been their ability to bring about fresh perspectives and opportunities for cultural exchange. The younger generations of Vietnamese Australians, in particular, have been instrumental in highlighting the values of inclusivity and multiculturalism. They have been at the forefront of promoting cultural diversity and understanding and acceptance of different communities. Our research aims to systematically document the adaptation and integration of the Vietnamese community in Australia across different periods. We employ qualitative methods to analyse the various factors that have contributed to the success of the Vietnamese community in Australia. By doing so, we hope to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the Vietnamese community during their integration into Australian society.

Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems

Equity is an important principle of health care in Australia, and redesigning health services to meet the needs of culturally marginalised groups has the potential to improve accessibility to psychotherapy. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of an ethno-specific service and a specialist treatment service to provide an evidence-informed intervention to treat Vietnamese Australian individuals experiencing gambling problems. Employing a clinical case audit tool and drawing on the evidence of 33 participants, the study identified which features of therapeutic practice had the most impact on retention and treatment completion. Moderate but influential adjustments to the delivery of a standard behavioural treatment program improved access, treatment adherence, and success for Vietnamese Australians experiencing gambling problems. These findings have significant implications for health care provision in a culturally diverse nation. Results highlight the importance of service adaptation to address under-utilisation and under-representation of psychotherapy services by culturally marginalised groups due to language and cultural barriers.

Improving health literacy about dementia among older Chinese and Vietnamese Australians.

The number of older people in the population is increasing faster than for any other age group. This population growth, while positive, is associated with increasing incidence of chronic and progressive diseases such as dementia. This requires older people to navigate services that may not be designed to meet their needs. This issue can be further amplified in culturally and linguistically diverse populations who often have limited English language proficiency and limited knowledge of diseases such as dementia. Health literacy, a person's ability to access, understand, appraise and apply information about their health and health care, including navigating health services, is low among older people and even lower among older people born overseas. This paper describes findings from a recent research study which developed and used the Cultural Exchange Model. The model is based on a process of collaboration, whereby researchers, service providers and community members work together to build evidence about a particular topic, in this case dementia. The study demonstrated that the Cultural Exchange Model facilitates opportunities for researchers, health professionals, community workers and carers to improve their knowledge of conditions such as dementia and rapidly translate evidence into practice. It also showed that it is possible to recruit, engage and generate new knowledge within populations that are traditionally excluded from research but have high prevalence of dementia. This study shows health literacy is an evolving process. Access to ongoing education for professionals, not only of the clinical condition and the service system, but also the cultural elements of the communities they are working with, requires consideration.

The Haunting of Agent Orange within the Waters of Rivers and Bodies for Vietnamese Australians

In the context of climate change and the inevitable future of climate change refugees, there is the need to explore the intrinsic connection between migrants and their connection to the environment, particularly when they are changing environments (their biogregion), and homelands. This paper uses case study methodology in its examination of Agent Orange within the waters of Vietnam and Australia; it attempts to understand the haunting and the affects of water contamination within lived experiences of (un)belonging. Agent Orange was used by the U.S military in Vietnam as part of the herbicidal warfare program called Operation Ranch Hand. The Union Carbide Corporation chemical plant, which had produced Agent Orange for the Vietnam War, had one plant situated in Sydney, Australia by the Parramatta River. Parramatta River is a river in Western Sydney where many Vietnamese migrants, including my family, live. It is a popular landmark for picnics and events for Vietnamese families. The haunting upon my family, once they realised the presence of Agent Orange within the waters of their new homeland, has brought strong visceral and sensory memories of their experiences of the war and of migration. Their migration experience has taken a circular route, akin to the water contamination: Agent Orange has been produced in Australia, released in Vietnam and contaminated (and continues to contaminate) both Australia and Vietnam. Although they escaped Vietnam as refugees sailing on a boat across the waters, Agent Orange also has travelled, present within the waters in the river systems of both countries. Agent Orange's deadly legacy, ecocide, haunts Australian Vietnamese beyond physical and geographical space and time.

Perceived Challenges in Dementia Care by Vietnamese Family Caregivers and Care Workers in South Australia.

The majority of Vietnamese Australians migrated to Australia as refugees to escape a war and this unique migration background may affect their ability to access and utilize healthcare services in Australia. Inability to utilize dementia services is associated with higher levels of caregiver burden, higher rates of morbidities and mortality and hospitalization. The aim of the study was to explore the perceived challenges of dementia care from Vietnamese family caregivers and Vietnamese care workers. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics was used to interpret and describe the experiences of the participants. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with six Vietnamese family caregivers and a focus group with Vietnamese care workers using purposive sampling. Participants were recruited from a Vietnamese community care organization in South Australia. Five themes were identified from the data analysis namely: (1) a need for culturally and linguistically appropriate dementia education programs; (2) a willingness and unwillingness to seek help; (3) poor knowledge of health care service availability related to dementia; (4) the effect of language barrier in accessing services; and (5) the main sources of services utilized. The study revealed that Vietnamese family caregivers and Vietnamese care workers held different views on the association of stigma with dementia. Findings also revealed factors that impacted accessing and utilizing dementia services. These findings facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of Vietnamese family caregivers' needs and have implications for developing individualized support for family caregivers and for consumer-directed dementia services in Australia.

Vietnamese Australians Distribution and its Characteristics

Vietnamese Australians Distribution and its Characteristics

Vietnamese Vowels Produced by Australian Vietnamese Speakers

This paper reported a study that acoustically examined the vowel features of Vietnamese language used by the Vietnamese community in Australia. Vowels produced by older (n=10) and younger (n=10) Vietnamese Australians residing in Brisbane, Australia, were acoustically examined and compared with those produced by corresponding older (n=10) and younger (n=10) Vietnamese residing in Ho Chi Minh/Can Tho City, Vietnam. The results showed that (i) almost all vowel tokens produced by the four groups of speakers were acoustically significantly different in vowel space; (ii) the Younger Vietnamese Australian residents’ tokens of vowels which look similar in conventional Vietnamese orthography tended to cluster with each other; (iii) the vowel productions of the Younger Vietnamese residents in Australia tended to occupy higher and/or more front regions than those of the Younger Vietnamese residents in Vietnamese group in terms of the acoustic vowel space; and (iv) the vowel tokens produced by the Older Vietnamese residents in Australia and Older Vietnamese residents in Vietnam groups occupied different regions in the acoustic vowel space.

Vietnamese Australians' perceptions of the trustworthiness of police

Trust is a central concern in the policing of ethnically and racially identified communities. A challenge for contemporary policing research on trust, as for related concerns such as confidence or cooperation, is to relate the quality of personal police trust encounters to public views about the trustworthiness of the policing institution. Within the criminological literature on policing, many quantitative empirical studies are directed towards the measurement and comparison of how confidence, trust, effectiveness and fairness are related to community perceptions of police practice. Overall, there is a general scarcity of integrated frameworks applied to empirical studies of trustworthiness although the organisation and leadership literature offer some models. In this qualitative study, a sociological framework is used to explore Vietnamese Australian's perceptions of police trustworthiness. The paper investigates the key factors that influence Vietnamese Australians' perceptions of police trustworthiness using dimensions of trustworthiness described by Sztompka, namely, reputation, performance, appearance and accountability.

Analysing some Characteristics of the Vietnamese Tones produced by Young Vietnamese Australian People (for the Teaching of the Vietnamese language)

This paper reported a study that acoustically examined the tonal features of Vietnamese language used by the Vietnamese community in Australia. Tones produced by older (n=10) and younger (n=10) Vietnamese Australians residing in Brisbane, Australia, were acoustically examined and compared with those produced by corresponding older (n=10) and younger (n=10) Vietnamese residing in Ho Chi Minh/Can Tho City, Vietnam. The results showed that the main patterns of mispronunciation of tones by the younger Vietnamese in Australia (YVA) include (i) confusing tones which are in the same registers or/and have similar characteristics, (ii) the tendency to pronounce complicated tones as simple tones, and (iii) confusing the diacritics of tones. The results of the frequency of melodic contour of all tones produced by the four groups show significant differences between the YVA group and the other three groups in terms of the frequency and distribution of irregular and common tone contours of each tone, suggesting that the YVA group failed to produce the tones correctly or did not reach the required standard of tone production of contemporary standard Vietnamese. In addition, the results of tone contours showed that the tonal range of the YVA group is narrower than that of the other three groups.

Rates of alcohol usage among Vietnamese Australian Communities: A literature review

Census data indicates a steady increase in the number of Vietnamese people migrating to Australia. Despite this there is a paucity of research examining alcohol usage within this community. A review of the literature was undertaken to examine the prevalence of alcohol use, related harms, and health service use. Vietnamese Australians were found to consume alcohol at a rate lower than that of Australians in general. However, the relevant research may not be generalizable, alcohol usage and associated harms may be under-reported, and prevalence rates contradicted the breadth and frequency of harms reported. These issues are discussed.

Waterborne: Vietnamese Australians and river environments in Vietnam and Sydney

Vietnamese Australians who arrived in Australia as refugees since the 1970s and later as migrants, have developed complex relationships of remembering, knowing and belonging to environments in Vietnam and Sydney. Water was a frequent point of reference in our interviews with Vietnamese people in Sydney, and their relationships with water are used in this article to explore interviewees’ associations with places. The article focuses on cultural knowledge of environments, which people bring with them, such as their connections with rivers and oceans, central to both memories of place and the histories of Vietnam. These memories also change with return visits and experiences between these places. Vietnamese refugees’ experiences of escape and trauma coming across oceans from Vietnam also influence subsequent relationships with place. Finally, relationships with Sydney parks and urban waterways are explored by examining popular places for family and community get-togethers along Georges River, located near where many Sydney Vietnamese people live. These have become key places in making Sydney home for Vietnamese people. The article considers how Vietnamese Australian cultural knowledge of place could be shared and acknowledged by park managers and used in park interpretation.

The use of alcohol by Vietnamese living in Melbourne, Australia

Background: The size of the Vietnamese community residing in Melbourne, Australia has continued to grow steadily over the past decades; however, little is known about their level of alcohol consumption. Aims: To collect data on alcohol consumption and consider the impact of demographic variables such as age and gender. Method: A questionnaire was administered to 1080 people recruited through Vietnamese organizations and the media. The survey questions were drawn from existing and validated instruments and demographic questions such as age and gender. Results: The findings suggest that Vietnamese Australians in Melbourne consume alcohol at a lower rate than the general population, but higher than the Vietnamese community in Sydney and Western Australia. Conclusions: Due to the limited research in this field, these findings make an important contribution to understanding the alcohol consumption patterns of Vietnamese Australians.

Lao Australians on Sydney's Urban Fringe: A Non-Cosmopolitan Transnationalism?

The research project on Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian Australians that informs this essay was designed in part in reaction to the marked stereotyping that has beset these communities from the early days of their settlement in Australia.1 Representations of the Vietnamese community as insular, secretive, and anti-assimilationist continue to this day, and reflect traditional Australian anxieties around Asian migration. The media-fueled moral panic around the Vietnamese ghetto in Australia has gained support from the fact that, from the early days of settlement until now, Vietnamese Australians show the highest levels of residential concentration of any ethnic minority community in the nation.2 Cambodian, and to a lesser extent Lao, Australians also live in relatively concentrated communities in the same suburban areas as do their Vietnamese Australian counterparts, and have been tarred with the same brush.

The Molecular Epidemiology of HIV Type 1 among Vietnamese Australian Injecting Drug Users in Melbourne, Australia

The proportion of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) among Vietnamese injecting drug users (IDUs) in Melbourne, Australia exceeds that of the background population. To investigate the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 among this group, the C2-V4 region of the HIV-1 envelope was directly sequenced from 11 Vietnamese Australians and 19 non-Vietnamese Australian controls. A significant difference in the distribution of the HIV-1 subtypes was demonstrated, with greater than 50% of Vietnamese Australian IDU shown to be infected with CRF01_AE-the predominant subtype in Southeast Asia, rather than subtype B, which dominates the Australian epidemic and which was found in 89.5% of the non-Vietnamese controls. The genetic diversity of the CRF01_AE epidemic in Vietnamese Australian IDUs was substantially lower that that of the background subtype B, consistent with a more recent introduction of a limited number of viral strains from Vietnam. These results support public health policy targeting Australian IDUs of Vietnamese ethnicity as a distinct vulnerable population.

Trauma and mental health among Vietnamese Australians in South Australia

Trauma and mental health among Vietnamese Australians in South Australia

HIV, ethnicity and travel: HIV infection in Vietnamese Australians associated with injecting drug use.

The movement of people with their constructed identities including ethnicity has always been one of the determinants of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic. An example of the contributions of travel and ethnicity to experiences of HIV can be seen in the Vietnamese community in Australia. This paper seeks to describe the contributions of ethnicity and travel to the Australian HIV epidemic with particular reference to the evolving epidemic within the Vietnamese Australian community. We reviewed the available data on the HIV epidemic in Australia with reference to overseas acquisition, ethnicity, the epidemic in the Vietnamese community and the determinants of the current patterns of transmission within this community. Available data suggests that 20-25% of HIV infections notified in Australia are acquired overseas. This proportion is higher in some specific categories such as heterosexually acquired infections. Notification rates are no higher in Vietnamese Australians than in the general Australian population apart from infections associated with injecting drug use (IDU) notified in the state of Victoria. The reasons for this increased rate of notification include increased vulnerability to blood borne virus infection in Australia and the additional, unique risk of frequent travel to Vietnam, a country where IDU carries a high risk of HIV infection. Australia has succeeded in stabilising the HIV epidemic partly through successful interventions to limit the spread of infection among IDUs. There is now early evidence that HIV transmission may be increasing amongst Vietnamese Australian IDUs. Timely responses that help Vietnamese Australian IDUs reduce their accumulation of risk are likely to be important in determining the level of harm associated with IDU throughout Australia.

Journey of Resilience and Adaptation: Counselling Vietnamese People

Despite the substantial number of Vietnamese residing in Australia, many Australians' knowledge and attitudes are still shaped by the Vietnam War and the resulting exodus of refugees. This superficial impression contributes little to a meaningful understanding of the rich heritage of the Vietnamese people. The purpose of this article is to broaden the understanding of helping professionals who come into contact with Vietnamese Australians, so as to evoke responses that are more sensitive, appropriate and helpful. A brief history of Vietnam is followed by an exploration of historical insights and cultural variables that aid our understanding of the people, and by an examination of the applicability of these factors for counselling.

Swimming in and out of Focus: Second Contact, Vietnamese Migrant Others and Australian Selves

Anthropologists and others have always used the Other to define themselves. Using Michael Taussig's idea of ‘second contact’, I argue that this is inappropriate and that the imagined borders between us and them in relationships between Vietnamese and other Australians are less than stable, continually losing their polarity and swimming in and out of focus. In light of the Vietnamese migrant case, I argue that similar ethnographic research projects cannot rely on stable boundaries between the host and the migrant community to organise explanations. Rather than simply registering ‘cultural contacts’, we have to engage the interplay between the strange and the familiar in specific contexts. Furthermore, my reading of Vietnamese migrant identity obliges us to listen to Vietnamese Australian voices as they attempt to respond to the fluctuating interstices of an intercultural borderland. This implies the mutual anthropological interrogation of both self and other.