Immigration, acculturation, and preferred help-seeking sources for depression: comparison of five ethnic groups

Abstract

Background: Immigrants are more likely than the majority population to have unmet needs for public mental health services. This study aims to understand potential ethnic differences in preferred help-seeking sources for depression in Norway, and how such preferences relate to acculturation orientation. Methods: A convenience sample of immigrants from Russia (n = 164), Poland (n = 127), Pakistan (n = 128), and Somalia (n = 114), and Norwegian students (n = 250) completed a survey. The sample was recruited from social media platforms, emails, and direct contact. The survey consisted of a vignette describing a moderately depressed person. Respondents were asked to provide advice to the person by completing a modified version of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. The immigrant sample also responded to questions about acculturation orientation using the Vancouver Index of Acculturation Scale. Results: Significant differences were found in the endorsement of traditional (e.g., religious leader), informal (e.g., family), and semiformal (e.g., internet forum) help-sources between immigrant groups, and between immigrant groups and the Norwegian respondent group. Immigrants from Pakistan and Somalia endorsed traditional help sources to a greater extent than immigrants from Russia and Poland, and the Norwegian student sample. There were no ethnic differences in endorsement of formal mental help sources (e.g., a medical doctor). Maintenance of the culture of origin as the acculturation orientation was associated with preferences for traditional and informal help sources, while the adoption of mainstream culture was associated with semiformal and formal help-seeking sources. Conclusion: Ethnic differences in help-seeking sources need to be considered when designing and implementing mental health services.

Ethnic Minority Groups’ Experiences of Suicide Bereavement: A Qualitative Exploratory Study

“…In addition, there were no specific questions on the views and needs of minority groups which may have elicited further material on differences between groups. No data on immigration was collected as part of this study, although previous research has evidenced that immigrant populations may present different help-seeking patterns from the majority population for mental health issues [30]. Our data also did not allow us to draw conclusions regarding the presence of external stigma as defined by Shefer et al [22].…”

Integration Is Correlated With Mental Health Help-Seeking From the General Practitioner: Syrian Refugees' Preferences and Perceived Barriers

“…To measure help-seeking preferences, participants were presented with a vignette describing an individual, who was experiencing symptoms in line with DSM-V and ICD-10 criteria of depression ( 54 , 55 ). The vignette is the same as used by Aarethun et al ( 17 ), Markova et al ( 56 ), and Markova et al ( 26 ), which is based on Erdal and colleagues ( 57 ). Female participants were presented with a female vignette character and males with a male vignette character.…”

“…After reading the vignette, participants indicated how likely they were to seek help from different sources, if they felt like the vignette character (6-point Likert scale where 1 = Very unlikely, 6 = Very likely, and 7 = NA). Participants could select from a list of different sources, based on categories used by Markova et al ( 26 ) and the General Help-seeking Questionnaire ( 58 ). Next, the participants were asked to indicate their first, second, and third most preferred help-seeking sources.…”

“…was associated with semiformal (e.g., internet forum) and formal (i.e. medical doctor) as opposed to informal help-seeking sources among immigrants in Norway ( 26 ). This is in line with Wikberg and Eriksson ( 79 ), who claim that the more integrated an individual feels, the more likely they are to accept the host country's dominant care models.…”

The design and impact of culturally-safe community-based physical activity promotion for immigrant women: descriptive review

“…Other studies involving qualitative interviews revealed that gender (sacrifice self-care for household/family), culture (PA not encouraged) and socioeconomic (low-paying/multiple jobs) factors contribute to low PA rates among immigrant women [ 10 , 11 ]. Immigrant women are also hard-to-reach due to low help-seeking arising from mistrust of healthcare providers and poor healthcare experiences [ 12 ]. We conducted focus groups with 23 immigrant women aged 25 to 78 from 10 countries who said that physicians rushed through discussions, did not address their questions, and did not make time for lifestyle counseling, which they desired as a means of preventing illness [ 13 ].…”