{"title":"Acculturation, Perceptions about Seeking Mental Health Care, and Utilization of Mental Health Services among US-based South Asians.","authors":"Reet Kapur, Konya Badsa, Farzana Kapadia","doi":"10.18865/EthnDis-2024-10","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To examine the relationship between acculturation, cultural perceptions surrounding mental health (MH) burden and utilization of MH services among South Asian (SA) adults in the United States.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Cross-sectional study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>Online survey.</p><p><strong>Participants: </strong>Four hundred five SA adults (≥18 years old) residing in the United States.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Cross-sectional study of acculturation, attitudes toward MH burden, and MH service utilization was conducted via online survey. Multivariate logistic regression models were employed to understand how these factors were associated with MH service utilization.</p><p><strong>Main outcome measure: </strong>Utilization of MH services.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 405 participants, 49.0% identified as immigrants (75.1% Indian, 8% Bangladeshi, 5.5% Pakistani, and 3.8% from other SA countries). Current utilization of MH services was associated with comfort conversing in English (odds ration [OR]=5.99; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.63, 27.02), having English-speaking peers (OR=3.80; 95% CI=1.12, 12.93), and having family (OR=2.37; 95% CI=1.21, 4.64) and peers (OR=5.64; 95% CI=1.71, 18.66) who used MH services. Participants with mostly SA peers (OR=0.48; 95% CI=0.23, 0.97) reported lower lifetime MH service utilization, and those with positive perceptions about MH burden reported higher lifetime utilization (OR=1.04; 95% CI=1.01, 1.09).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Comfort expressing emotions in English, knowledge of family/peer MH service use, and type of social connections were associated with MH service utilization among SA immigrants. Interventions should aim to increase SA languages in which MH services are offered and to engage with SA communities to increase acceptance of MH service utilization.</p>","PeriodicalId":50495,"journal":{"name":"Ethnicity & Disease","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11500642/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ethnicity & Disease","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.18865/EthnDis-2024-10","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/10/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the relationship between acculturation, cultural perceptions surrounding mental health (MH) burden and utilization of MH services among South Asian (SA) adults in the United States.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: Online survey.
Participants: Four hundred five SA adults (≥18 years old) residing in the United States.
Methods: Cross-sectional study of acculturation, attitudes toward MH burden, and MH service utilization was conducted via online survey. Multivariate logistic regression models were employed to understand how these factors were associated with MH service utilization.
Main outcome measure: Utilization of MH services.
Results: Among the 405 participants, 49.0% identified as immigrants (75.1% Indian, 8% Bangladeshi, 5.5% Pakistani, and 3.8% from other SA countries). Current utilization of MH services was associated with comfort conversing in English (odds ration [OR]=5.99; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.63, 27.02), having English-speaking peers (OR=3.80; 95% CI=1.12, 12.93), and having family (OR=2.37; 95% CI=1.21, 4.64) and peers (OR=5.64; 95% CI=1.71, 18.66) who used MH services. Participants with mostly SA peers (OR=0.48; 95% CI=0.23, 0.97) reported lower lifetime MH service utilization, and those with positive perceptions about MH burden reported higher lifetime utilization (OR=1.04; 95% CI=1.01, 1.09).
Conclusions: Comfort expressing emotions in English, knowledge of family/peer MH service use, and type of social connections were associated with MH service utilization among SA immigrants. Interventions should aim to increase SA languages in which MH services are offered and to engage with SA communities to increase acceptance of MH service utilization.
期刊介绍:
Ethnicity & Disease is an international journal that exclusively publishes information on the causal and associative relationships in the etiology of common illnesses through the study of ethnic patterns of disease. Topics focus on: ethnic differentials in disease rates;impact of migration on health status; social and ethnic factors related to health care access and health; and metabolic epidemiology. A major priority of the journal is to provide a forum for exchange between the United States and the developing countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.