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The purpose of this research study was to explore Mexican women’s perceptions about utilizing mental health services and to explore the barriers encountered during the process. Previous research suggested Mexican women’s diverse experiences when seeking and utilizing mental health services. The study used a qualitative approach with open-ended and closed-ended questions. The sample size of this study was fifteen individuals who self-identified as Mexican women who reside in Southern California recruited using a snowball approach. Major themes identified included Mexican family values and beliefs, cultural barriers, structural barriers, Mexican women’s strengths, and community suggestions for social work practice. This study highlighted their perspective on mental health, cultural and structural barriers, their personal experiences of utilizing mental health services, techniques on managing difficult situations, support systems, identified mental health symptoms, coping methods, cultural values and suggestions to improve mental health services in the general Latino community.

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While there is a large body of research demonstrating that Asian-Americans underutilize mental health services compared to other ethnic groups, little is known about how Vietnamese-Americans use formal mental health services. The traumatic war, post-war and refugee journey contributed to incidences of PTSD and other mental disorders. This mixed-method study aims to understand how multigenerational Vietnamese-Americans view their serious mental illness and how past experiences, family structure, and social networks influence mental health and use of mental health services. The theories that guided the research were the Network-Episode Model and Social Network Orientation Theory. Quantitative analyses using data from the National Latino and Asian-American Study (NLAAS) examined the relationship of variables assessing acculturation, social support, cultural identity, and health/mental health status with formal mental health service use for the Vietnamese-American subsample (N=520). The qualitative study explored how Vietnamese-Americans in multigenerational households experience severe mental illness and the reasons that influenced their mental health help-seeking and service use. Semi-structured interviews with 17 members of six multigenerational Vietnamese families from the greater Boston and Los Angeles area were conducted in English, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings from the study highlight the differences between 1st and 2nd generation Vietnamese respondents and provide insight into how generational culture – the prevailing attitudes, values, and beliefs of each generation – influences the social network support of Vietnamese-Americans and affects their mental health help-seeking behavior. The forced migration severed social networks, restricting 1st generation respondents to rely on small family networks for information and support. The traditional matriarchal hierarchy limited access to treatment as younger 2nd generation Vietnamese-Americans were unable to convince their parents to seek help for serious mental health problems or to get their approval to seek treatment. Cultural values such as belief in spiritual healers and self-reliance also insulated families from seeking professional help. The study found that the types of interactions respondents had with their social networks—whether positive or negative in orientation—shaped their beliefs about who and where they could go to for help with serious mental health problems and was instrumental in creating pathways to mental health service use.

The current study investigated maternal determinants of mental health service use, namely, individual child therapy, among preadolescent children diagnosed with ADHD. The Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization (Andersen, 2008) was used as a theoretical framework for the study. Data from the last three rounds of ECLS-K dataset were employed to test a longitudinal model using Bayesian analysis. Socio-demographic variables and maternal mental health were tested as exogenous variables and mother-child relationship variables, discipline variables, and perceived maternal concern about child’s overall behavior and child’s emotional symptoms were tested as intervening variables. Results showed that only maternal mental health remained in the model as an exogenous variable. The effect of mental health on child therapy was mediated by maternal aggravation and maternal concern about overall behavior in one path and by maternal concern about emotional symptoms in another path, suggesting that maternal mental health needs to be considered when attempting to understand help-seeking determinants. Both concern variables were found to have large direct effects on child therapy. The results of the current study showed the importance of maternal mental health and the importance of determinants related to mother-child relationship in a mother’s decision to seek therapy for a child.