Mental Health Services among Asian Americans - Research Paper Example

Intervention on Under Usage of Mental Health Services Concerning Depression among Asian Americans al Affiliation: Introduction Many cultural groups in America have historically enjoyed differing rates of access to various social facilities and benefits. Apparently, immigrant communities – whether legal or illegal – have had the lowest rates of access to any of the social facilities. These disparities are further extended across many other spheres of life, including access to healthcare, education, and employment. Researchers have devoted precious time studying these disparities and their root causes. Apparently, some groups stand out as being more alienated in social terms than others. For that reason they have tended to amass greater coverage than others. For instance, a preliminary review of literature indicates that a large percentage of the available literature has primarily focused on the Latino and African American groups. Whereas there is justifiable evidence to believe that these groups have not had adequate access to the said facilities, other groups are almost equally affected, sometimes for particularly different reasons. For instance, African Americans and Latinos have collectively occupied the lowest part of the socio-economic pyramid, which necessitates their lack of access to medical and social facilities. However, Asian Americans have too been observed to endure almost similar conditions as these two groups (Africa & Carrasco, 2011; Herrick & Brown, 1998). Apparently, they have cultural on top of socio-economic problems to blame. As such, they need to be focused upon as well. Depression is a leading cause of excessive weight gain and unintended weight loss. Besides, the condition is attributed to slow recovery rates among stroke patients. At the work place, workers suffering the condition have lower output, and often lose concentration when attending to clients and responding to other employees (Leong & Lau, 2001). In this paper, I have highlighted evidence that Asian Americans suffering from depression tend to use mental health less often than they should, even in cases where the affected individuals are have no barriers to accessing the facilities. Effectively, I have proposed an interventional measure to ensure that the group exercises proper utilization of these facilities. Literature Review and Facts about Under-utilization of Mental Health Facilities by Asian Americans According to the American Psychiatric Association (2014), access to health facilities is greatly influenced by medical cover of individuals. However, the proportions of individuals with medical cover per racial group shows slight to major deviations from the actual proportion of the group to the entire population. Asian Americans form 4.4% of the US population at the moment (American Psychiatric Association, 2014). However, only 20% of these have medical insurances to enable them to easily access medical care. This forms the beginning of a large problem for the group, bearing in mind that 80% of them could have difficulties accessing health facilities due to lack of cover. Compared to other groups, Asian Americans have the lowest levels of attendance to mental health facilities in the country. Apparently, only 4.5% of patients suffering from mental illnesses and conditions (which include depression) attend health facilities. In comparison to other racial groups, the Asian Americans come closest to Hispanics (6.8%), and African Americans (8.7%). Indeed, these statistics from the American Psychiatric Association (2014) point to a grim situation that needs addressing fast. Narrowing down to depression, statistics from the same provider show that Asian Americans have the lowest rates of access to any type of mental health facilities in America, and have the poorest rates of access to quality treatment for depression. Only 31% of members of this racial group have access to any facilities for treatment for depression. Latinos have a better access rate at 36%, and African Americans rank even higher at 41%. However, all groups appear to have even reduced rates of access to quality treatment for depression. Asian Americans and African Americans appear level at 13%, while Latinos have 22%. Whites are dominant in all aspects evaluated, leading again at 33% in accessing quality treatment for depression. Besides the listed lack of access to healthcare cover, several other factors also influence the poor rating of Asian Americans with regard to access to seeking quality medical treatment for depression in mental health institutions. Several authors have contributed to this list over time. The US Department of Health and Human Services (2001) proposed that cultural barriers are influential in deterring Asian Americans from accessing mental health facilities. Following up on the discussion sparked by the Department of Health and Human Services, Sue (2002) proposed a further raft of reasons why the group has the observed dismal rates of access to mental health facilities. Among her reasons, stigmatization appeared to be the other big reason why Asian Americans rarely sought mental health attention. Contributing to the same debate, Chu and Sue (2011) established a firm statistical basis to believe that stigmatization that led to reduced access to mental health facilities by Asian Americans is much more the product of cultural values held by the group. In two of the qualitative recordings, Chu and Sue (2011) and Charlotte, Herrick and Brown (1998) noted that Asian Americans regarded mental health institutions with disdain, and many independent persons from the group could hardly seek attention for depression and other conditions from them. With such a perception still living among them, society has a monumental task to make this group accept the good care provided by mental health institutions. Lee and Mokuau (2002) observed that the Asian Americans are much more affected by poverty than it is reported. As such, their levels of access to health care remain dismal. The author goes ahead to list some more reasons why the group rates so poorly, including existence of language barriers (especially for new immigrants), lack of adequate education to sensitize them about the need to make the important attendance, and lack of appropriate interventional strategies to promote awareness levels. That said, it is necessary to ensure that literacy levels are improved in order to be able to create awareness about the need for mental health intervention for depressed individuals form this group. Improving educational standards among members of this group is just one of the approaches proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (2001) and the American Psychiatric Association (2014) in fighting the problem of poor mental health assistance to some racial; groups, including Asian Americans with depression. Other avenues proposed by these two institutions include improving knowledge of English among the Asian Americans while teaching health workers the main languages spoken buy members of the group. Moreover, promotion of policies that ensure social justice is proposed as a possible viable solution to the problem. Intervention Having evaluated the various interventional measures proposed by the various authors covered, I have chosen on eradicating cultural barriers to access to mental healthcare as a suitable way to improve the group’s coverage. My proposal is largely based on the fact that, without breaking the cultural ceiling set up among the individuals in this group, it will remain significantly impossible to help them to get greater access to the services. I will devote three hours to meet with members of the Asian American community (in one of the neighborhoods where they are the predominant inhabitants) and asses their willingness to attend mental health facilities. I will then narrow down to the barriers that exist for only those with depression. Using a self-made scale, I will attempt to establish each participant’s willingness to seek treatment for depression, with the most likely scoring 100%, and the least likely scoring 0%. In order to easily identify members of this target community, I will use purposive sampling instead of the more popular random sampling. This will enable me to get a sizeable sample. My initial preferred sample, based on availability of time and resources, lies between five and ten. After several meeting arranged to teach them about the need to attend mental health services, the participants (comprising depressed and non-depressed individuals) will then be assessed again on their willingness to attend the mental health facilities for checkups. In the meetings, we will discuss their cultural reasons for not seeking specialized attention for depression, and highlight other cultural barriers existing in other parts of the country and the world over, in order to expose the weaknesses with beliefs that they hold fast to. That done, we will focus on the advantages of seeking not only quality, but also timely attention from a specialist when faced with depression, or a kin with the condition. My initial proposal for an interaction period is two months, in order to cover a substantial section of the intended contents. My expectations are that after the interaction period, the participants will be more willing to seek mental health services when they have depression. Equally, they will be better positioned to sensitize their immediate families about the benefits of seeking specialized treatment for depression. I will use statistical analysis (Analysis of Variance) to determine whether the intervention was effective, so as to evaluate my success. If successful, it will provide evidence that indeed, with more such interventions, the cultural barriers to Asian Americans’ seeking of mental health services for depressed individuals can work. In my estimate, if we can create several such interventions, we can overcome the barrier to Asian Americans’ access to health treatment for depression. Conclusion Several barriers prevent Asian Americans from proportionately seeking treatment for mental problem and depression. By employing the right interventions society will be able to boost the rates at which Asian Americans seek health attention for depression. Alongside depression, this group may also benefit by enlisting more patients to seek for treatment for other mental problems from health facilities. In my opinion, breaking the cultural barriers to attainment of this goal is the first important step towards winning the battle. References Africa, J. & Carrasco, M. (2011). Asian-American and Pacific Islander mental health. Virginia: National Alliance on Medical Illness. American Psychiatric Association (2014). Mental health disparities: Hispanics/ Latinos. Washington, DC: APA. Chu, J. P. & Sue, S. (2011). Asian American mental health: What we know and what we don’t know. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. 3(1): 1-18. Department of Health and Human Services (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity – A supplement to mental health: A report of the surgeon general. Washington, DC: US Public Health Service. Herrick, C.A., & Brown, H.N. (1998). The underutilization of mental health services among Asians living in the United States. Issues in Mental Health Nursing. 19(3): 225-240 Lee, E. & Mokuau, N. (2002). Cultural diversity series: Meeting the mental health needs of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. Washington, DC: National Technical Assistance Center. Leong, F. T. L. & Lau, A. S. L. (2001). Barriers to providing effective mental health services to Asian Americans. Mental Health Services Research. 3(4): 201-214. Sue, S. (2002). Asian American mental health: what we know and what we don’t know. University of California. Read More