Top

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

Published in:

01-12-2008 | Original Paper

Determinants of Mental Health Consultations Among Recent Chinese Immigrants in British Columbia, Canada: Implications for Mental Health Risk and Access to Services

Authors: Alice W. Chen, Arminée Kazanjian, Hubert Wong

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 6/2008

Abstract

Linked immigration and health administrative databases were analyzed to study the factors associated with the rate of mental health consultations with physicians in 1992–2001 of over 150,000 Chinese immigrants in British Columbia, Canada. Results showed that number of years since landing and rate of non-mental health visits to general practitioners were the most consistent variables associated with mental health consultations to general practitioners and psychiatrists in all sex and age groups. Other variables associated with the rate of consultations were age, place of origin, educational level, marital status and English skill. Supply of physicians was not observed to be associated with mental health consultations. The findings are consistent with Andersen’s behavioral model of health care utilization and introduce components specially pertinent to immigrants and mental health service utilization. They also highlight sub-populations among immigrants who may be at risk of experiencing mental health problems or encountering barriers to care.

2001 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97F0009XCB2001002. Statistics Canada; 2001.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Facts and Figures 2001. Citizenship and Immigration Canada; 2002.

Cheung FK, Snowden LR. Community mental health and ethnic minority populations. Community Ment Health J. 1990; 26:277–91.PubMedCrossRef

Klimidis S, et al. Continuity of contact with psychiatric services: immigrant and Australian-born patients. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2000; 35:554–63.PubMedCrossRef

Leong FTL. Asian Americans’ differential patterns of utilization of inpatient and outpatient public mental health services in Hawaii. J Community Psychol. 1994; 22:82–96.CrossRef

Meinhardt K, Vega W. A method for estimating underutilization of mental health services by ethnic groups. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1987; 38:1186–90.PubMed

Roberts N, Crockford D. Psychiatric admissions of Asian Canadians to an adolescent inpatient unit. Can J Psychiatry. 1997; 42:847–51.PubMed

Snowden LR, Cheung FK. Use of inpatient mental health services by members of ethnic minority groups. Am Psychol. 1990; 45:347–55.PubMedCrossRef

Chen AW, Kazanjian A. Rate of mental health service utilization by Chinese immigrants in British Columbia. Can J Public Health. 2005; 96:49–51.PubMed

10.

Lai DWL, et al. Health and well being of older Chinese in Canada. Calgary: Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary; 2003.

11.

Andersen R. A behavioral model of families use of health services. The University of Chicago; 1968.

12.

Andersen R, Newman JF. Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Mem Fund Q. 1973; 51:95–124.CrossRef

13.

Andersen RM. Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: Does it matter? J Health Soc Behav. 1995; 36:1–10.PubMedCrossRef

14.

Andersen RM, Davidson PL. Improving access to care in America. In: Rice TH, Kominski GF editors. Changing the US Health Care System. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2001:3–30.

15.

Freimen MP, Cunningham PJ. Use of health care for the treatment of mental problems among racial/ethnic subpopulations. Med Care Res Rev. 1997; 54:80–100.CrossRef

16.

Padgett DK, et al. Ethnicity and the use of outpatient mental health services in a national insured population. Am J Public Health. 1994; 84:222–6.PubMedCrossRef

17.

Padgett DK, et al. Ethnic differences in use of inpatient mental health services by blacks, whites and Hispanics in a national insured population. Health Serv Res. 1994; 29:135–53.PubMed

18.

Vega WA, et al. Gaps in service utilization by Mexican Americans with mental health problems. Am J Psychiatry. 1999; 156:928–34.PubMed

19.

Wells KB, et al. Factors affecting the probability of use of general and medical health and social/community services for Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Med Care. 1988; 26:441–52.PubMedCrossRef

20.

Wells KB, et al. Acculturation and the probability of use of health services by Mexican Americans. Health Serv Res. 1989; 24:237–57.PubMed

21.

Spencer MS, Chen J. Effect of discrimination on mental health service utilization among Chinese Americans. Am J Public Health. 2004; 94:809–14.PubMed

22.

Stuart GW, et al. English language ability and mental health service utilisation: a census. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1996; 30:270–7.PubMedCrossRef

23.

Tabora BL, Flaskerud JH. Mental health beliefs, practices, and knowledge of Chinese American immigrant women. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 1997; 18:173–89.PubMedCrossRef

24.

DesMeules M, et al. New approaches to immigrant health assessment. Can J Public Health. 2004; 95:I22–I26.PubMed

25.

Newcombe HB. Handbook of record linkage: methods for health and statistical studies, administration, and business. New York: Oxford Medical Publications; 1988.

26.

Gardner W, et al. Regression analyses of counts and rates: Poisson, overdispersed Poisson, and negative binomial models. Psychol Bull. 1995; 118:392–404.PubMedCrossRef

27.

Bland RC, et al. Help-seeking for psychiatric disorders. Can J Psychiatry. 1997; 42:935–42.PubMed

28.

Kazanjian A, et al. Health care utilization by Canadian women. BMC Womens Health. 2004; 4 Suppl 1:S33.

29.

Shapiro S, et al. Utilization of health and mental health services: three Epidemiologic Catchment Area sites. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1984; 41:971–8.PubMed

30.

Review of the Literature on Migrant Mental Health. Canadian Task Force on Mental Health Issues Affecting Immigrants and Refugees; 1988.

31.

Lin E, et al. The use of mental health services in Ontario: epidemiologic findings. Can J Psychiatry. 1996; 41:572–7.PubMed

32.

Parslow RA, Jorm AF. Who uses mental health services in Australia? An analysis of data from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2000; 34:997–1008.PubMed

33.

ten Have M, et al. Predictors of incident care service utilisation for mental health problems in the Dutch general population. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2001; 36:141–9.PubMedCrossRef

34.

Bebbington PE, et al. Unequal access and unmet need: neurotic disorders and the use of primary care services. Psychol Med. 2000; 30:1359–67.PubMedCrossRef

35.

Lefebvre J, et al. Factors related to utilization of services for mental health reasons in Montreal, Canada. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1998; 33:291–8.PubMedCrossRef

36.

2001 Community Profiles. Catalogue number 93F0053XIE. Statistics Canada; 2002.

Title: Determinants of Mental Health Consultations Among Recent Chinese Immigrants in British Columbia, Canada: Implications for Mental Health Risk and Access to Services
Authors: Alice W. Chen
Arminée Kazanjian
Hubert Wong
Publication date: 01-12-2008
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 6/2008
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9143-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Determinants of Mental Health Consultations Among Recent Chinese Immigrants in British Columbia, Canada: Implications for Mental Health Risk and Access to Services

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 6/2008

Preliminary Evidence for the Integration of Music into HIV Prevention for Severely Mentally Ill Latinas

Victor Zuniga and Rubén Hernandez-Leon (eds): New Destinations: Mexican Immigration in the United States

Correlates and Predictors of Tobacco Use Among Immigrant and Refugee Youth in a Western Canadian City

The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Chinese Canadians: Results from a National Survey

Health Status of Mexican-Origin Persons: Do Proxy Measures of Acculturation Advance our Understanding of Health Disparities?

Differences in the Influence of Family Background and Social Activities on Smoking of Minority and White High School Seniors, 1976–2004