Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Ethnic differences in mental health service use among White, Chinese, South Asian and South East Asian populations living in Canada

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Health services in Canada are publicly funded. However, the use of health services, especially mental health services, by ethnic minority groups in Canada, has not been well studied.

Objectives

The objectives of the study were to estimate the 12-month prevalence of mental health service use by ethnicities, overall and among those with major depression, and to identify factors associated with mental health services use in different ethnic groups in Canada.

Methods

Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS-1.1) were used. Participants included in this analysis were white who were born in Canada (n = 108,192), white immigrants (n = 10,892), Chinese (n = 1,785), South Asian (n = 1,214), and South East Asian immigrants (n = 818). Participants were selected using multiple staged, stratified random sampling procedures from household residents aged 12 years or older in ten provinces.

Results

White people were more likely to have used mental health services than Chinese participants and those from South Asian and South East Asian regions. The Chinese participants appeared to be less likely to have used mental health services than those in the South Asian and South East Asian groups, in those without major depression.

Conclusions

In Canada, Asian immigrants are less likely to use mental health service use than white people. More studies are needed to examine factors affecting mental health service use in Asian immigrants living in North America.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abe-Kim J, Takeuchi DT, Hong S, Zane N, Sue S, Spencer MS, Appel H, Nicdao E, Alegria M (2007) Use of mental health-related services among immigrant and US-born Asian Americans: results from the national Latino and Asian American Study. Am J Public Health 97:91–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd edn—revised version). American Psychiatric Association, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  3. Beiser M, Hou F (2001) Language acquisition, unemployment and depressive disorder among Southeast Asian refugees: a 10-year study. Soc Sci Med 53:1321–1334

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Belanger A, Caron Melenfant E, Martel L, Carriere Y, Hicks C, Rowe G (2005) Population projections of visible minority groups, Canada, provinces and regions, 2001–2017. Statistics Canada, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  5. Breslau J, Chang DF (2006) Psychiatric disorders among foreign-born and US-born Asian–Americans in a US national survey. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 41:943–950

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hu T, Snowden LR, Jerrell JM, Nguyen TD (1991) Ethnic populations in public mental health services: choices and level of use. Am J Public Health 81:1429–1434

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2003) World migration 2003: managing migration: challenges and responses for people on the move. International Organization for Migration, Geneva

  8. Kessler RC, Andrews G, Mroczek D, Ustun B, Wittchen H (1998) The World Health Organization composite international diagnostic interview short form (CIDISF). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 7:171–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kinzie JD (1985) Overview of clinical issues in the treatment of Southeast Asian refugees. In: Owan TC (eds) Southeast Asian mental health: treatment, prevention, services, training, and research. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, pp 113–136

    Google Scholar 

  10. Klimidis S, McKenzie D, Lewis J, Minas H (2000) Continuity of contact with psychiatric services: immigrants and Australian-born patients. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 35:554–563

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Mojtabai R, Olfson M (2006) Treatment seeking for depression in Canada and the United States. Psychiatr Serv 57:631–639

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Murray CJ, Lopez AD (1996) The global burden of disease: A comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from disease, injuries, and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020. Harvard University Press, USA

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rhodes AE, Fung K (2004) Self-reported use of mental health services versus administrative records: care to recall? Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 13(3):165–175

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Schmidley D (2003) The foreign-born population in the United States: March 2002. US Census Bureau, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  15. Shen YC, Zhang MY, Huang YQ, He YL, Liu ZR, Cheng H, Tsang A, Lee S, Kessler RC (2006) Twelve-month prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in metropolitan China. Psychol Med 36:257–267

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Snowden LR (2007) Explaining mental health treatment disparities: ethnic and cultural differences in family involvement. Cult Med Psychiatry 31:389–402

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Stata Corp (2003) Stata statistical software: release 8.0. college station. Stata Corporation, TX

    Google Scholar 

  18. Sue S (1999) Asian American mental health: what we know and don’t know. In: Lonner WJ, Dinnel DL (eds) Merging past, present, and future in cross-cultural psychology. Swets and Zeitlinger, Lisse, the Netherlands, pp 82–89

  19. Takeuchi DT, Chung RC, Lin KM, Shen H, Kurasaki K, Chun CA, Sue S (1998) Lifetime and twelve-month prevalence rates of major depressive episodes and dysthymia among Chinese Americans in Los Angeles. Am J Psychiatry 155:1407–1414

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Takeuchi DT, Zane N, Hong S, Chae DH, Gong F, Gee GC, Walton E, Sue S, Alegria M (2007) Immigration-related factors and mental disorders among Asian Americans. Am J Public Health 97:84–90

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Tiwari SK, Wang JL (2006) The epidemiology of mental and substance use-related disorders among white, Chinese, and other Asian populations in Canada. Can J Psychiatry 51:904–912

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The analyses are done using the data from Statistics Canada. However, the opinions and views expressed do not represent those of Statistics Canada.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to JianLi Wang PhD.

Additional information

JianLi Wang is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tiwari, S.K., Wang, J. Ethnic differences in mental health service use among White, Chinese, South Asian and South East Asian populations living in Canada. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 866–871 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0373-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0373-6

Keywords

Navigation