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African immigrants and refugees drop out of mental health care at a higher rate than other populations in the United States. However, there is a significant lack of research on mental health treatment or reasons for dropping out of mental health treatment among African immigrants and refugees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences with mental health treatment of Somali immigrants and refugees living in the United States. Eight Somali immigrants and refugees living in a midwestern state, were interviewed, and their accounts with the mental health system in the United States were recorded. A phenomenological method was used to develop and then to analyze data from the interview questions and generate common themes across participants. The findings revealed that respondents perceived mental health challenges in a negative way. Many respondents thought that such mental health diseases were caused by being cursed or demon possessed, and that these challenges were compounded by culture shock and language barriers for the Somali immigrants and refugees, and they perceived a lack of cultural sensitivity and awareness among mental health providers. Participants also perceived the mental health care system and providers in a negative way, because they believed providers lacked the cultural knowledge to support them. Similar studies reviewed in literature showed a strong interplay of both cultural and religious factors driving the high dropout rate from mental health treatment among immigrants and refugees. Information from this study could help mental health systems and individual practitioners to better understand the barriers and cultural values that can interfere with successful mental health treatment for Somali immigrants and refugees, and aid in expanding the discussion about mental health treatment for African immigrants and refugees.

Parents are the most affective human environmental resources to children. Although the influences from parents continue even after parents passed away, very young children (up to age 3) get the biggest impact from their parents. According to children's independency to parents, parents ' psychological well-being determines children's emotional-social development. However, in parenting stress, chi ldren also have their own influence to parents in the family context. Regarding parenting stress, many studies have been dedicated to defining the occurrence, co-occurrence, and predictors of parenting stress of parents in various conditions. This longitudinal research conducted from surveys with 20 I Early Head Start families reexamines the stressors and tests measures to find the most effective identifying variables. Also, the aim of this study is whether fathers' and mothers' parenting stress is different or similar with a child at the ages of I 0 months and 36 months. From the results of this study, stressors, parenting stress, and child attachment were related and influenced each other. Because the amount of fathers' and mothers' parenting stress was different, and because parenting stress was affected by different stressors according to parents' gender, the Early Head Start program should consider the differences in parenting stress due to the gender of parents. Additionally, as the children grew, the relations among stressors, parenting stress, and child attachment changed. Children 's development can change all circumstances including parents' physical and psychosocial well-being. Further studies need to identify additional sources of parenting stress and the impact of intervention programs on the stressors affecting families raising young children. Also, the Early Head Start program had an effect on the context of parenting stress, so results may have implications for staff of the program.