Sixty‐eight agency representatives in the United States completed a survey to identify issues of male victims in partner abuse: half referenced responses from male clients and the other half responses from male victims who were their family members, friends, colleagues, or themselves. Almost 25% revealed that male victims did not utilize social services. For those men who used services, individual counseling and legal advice were most popular; group counseling and sharing through the Internet were least used. Qualitative data found five themes that triggered men's hard times: service target perception, shame and embarrassment, denial, stigmatization, and fear. The study resulted in three recommendations: (a) increase public awareness and education; (b) provide gender‐inclusive practice and services, and (c) strengthen training for service providers working with domestic violence male victims. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Data obtained from a national study of male victims or survivors of intimate partner abuse (IPA) indicate that the experience (current or past) of abuse and with service use may predict a positive perception toward help seeking. However, marital status and a tendency to minimize problems may predict negative attitudes toward help seeking. Empirical evidence from this mixed-method study suggests that male victims face many interpersonal and societal obstacles. Feeling uncomfortable when requesting assistance, men in IPA situations are affected by a masking factor that causes them to hide their situation and contributes to a misconception factor that causes people to treat men as the sole perpetrator. Although men are eligible, services may not be perceived as being available or helpful. The study yields important implications for social work practice, and the findings result in several recommendations for increased awareness about IPA, advocacy for gender-inclusive services, revision of laws and policies, increased research, and emphasis on funded and anonymous services.

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An exploratory survey indicated that the depression prevalence among Chinese Americans is 17.4 percent. Of 516 respondents, 34.9 percent preferred seeking advice from friends or relatives, followed by 30.2 percent not showing any preference when facing a mental health problem. Logistic regression results pointed to three contributing factors: anxiety problems, acculturation concerns, and domestic violence. Learning from these factors, the authors conducted additional analyses to connect depressive symptoms with demographics to explain the underutilization of mental health services. Significant results showed that male Chinese Americans were more likely than female Chinese Americans to seek help from physicians but less likely to seek help from friends. Those who were not employed were more likely than those who were employed to think that a family problem would take care of itself or to seek help from herbalists, from physicians, or from friends. Implications for social work practice are discussed and address risk factors and multicultural considerations.

Survey results from 96 Asian Indians in the USA found that those having depressive symptoms were more likely to have experienced social, family or relationship issues. Logistic regression analysis indicated three significant predictors: 1) individuals with anxiety problems were 11.34 times more likely to have depressive symptoms; 2) each unit increase in the score for family or relationship issues increased the likelihood of depression by 3.74 times; and 3) individuals currently employed were 90.9 percent less likely to have depressive symptoms. Reframing mental health symptoms as reactions to family/social issues will help Asian Indians step forward to seek professional help.