Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Social Work, University of Melbourne, Level 5, 234 Queensberry Street, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria 3053, Australia.
BMC Psychiatry. 2010 Jan 19;10:7. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-10-7.
This study investigated the knowledge of depression and preference for professional help, medications and treatment methods among Australians of Chinese-speaking background, and the perceptions of this population of the causes of mental illness.
Adopting a cluster convenience sampling method, the study recruited 200 Chinese-speaking subjects from four major areas in metropolitan Melbourne where many Chinese live. The respondents were presented with a vignette describing an individual with depression and then asked questions to assess their understanding of depression and preference for professional help, medications and treatment methods. A comparative approach was used to compare the findings with those of a previous study of the mental health literacy of Australian and Japanese adults.
Compared to the Australian and Japanese samples, a much lower percentage of Chinese-speaking Australians (14%) could correctly identify major depression described in the vignette, and a higher percentage believed that counseling professionals could be helpful. Higher percentages of those who believed that close family members could be helpful were found in the Chinese-speaking Australian and Japanese samples, and these two groups also expressed more uncertainty about the usefulness or harmfulness of certain medications compared to the Australian sample. Higher percentages of respondents in both the Chinese-speaking Australian and the Australian sample considered "lifestyle changes" to be helpful compared to the Japanese sample. In the Chinese-speaking sample, 30%, 17.4%, 33% and 27% of the respondents rated "traditional Chinese medicine doctors," "Chinese herbal medications," "taking Chinese nutritional foods/supplements" and "qiqong" as helpful. Many perceived "changing fungshui" and "traditional Chinese worship" to be harmful. Regarding the perception of causes of mental illness, items related to psychosocial perspectives including "life stress" and "interpersonal conflict" were rated highly by the respondents, whereas traditional beliefs including "punishment for misdeeds conducted by ancestors" and "demon possession" had the lowest ratings.
Campaigns to increase the mental health literacy of Chinese-speaking Australians are needed. The above-mentioned socially and culturally driven beliefs need to be taken into consideration in the development of culturally relevant education programs.
本研究调查了以中文为母语的澳大利亚人群对抑郁症的认知、对专业帮助、药物治疗和治疗方法的偏好，以及该人群对精神疾病病因的看法。
采用聚类便利抽样方法，从墨尔本四个主要华人聚居区招募了 200 名以中文为母语的受试者。向受访者呈现了一个描述个体患有抑郁症的案例，并提出问题以评估他们对抑郁症的理解和对专业帮助、药物和治疗方法的偏好。采用对比方法，将研究结果与之前对澳大利亚和日本成年人心理健康素养的研究进行比较。
与澳大利亚和日本的样本相比，以中文为母语的澳大利亚人中（14%）能够正确识别案例中描述的重度抑郁症的比例要低得多，而认为咨询专业人员可能有帮助的比例较高。在以中文为母语的澳大利亚人和日本样本中，更多的人认为亲密的家庭成员可能有帮助，与澳大利亚样本相比，这两个群体对某些药物的有用性或危害性也表示更多的不确定性。与日本样本相比，来自以中文为母语的澳大利亚人和澳大利亚样本的受访者更多地认为“生活方式的改变”是有帮助的。在以中文为母语的样本中，30%、17.4%、33%和 27%的受访者认为“中医医生”、“中草药”、“服用中国营养食品/补品”和“气功”是有帮助的。许多人认为“改变风水”和“传统的中国崇拜”是有害的。关于精神疾病病因的看法，与心理社会观点相关的项目，包括“生活压力”和“人际冲突”，受访者的评价较高，而传统信仰，包括“祖先行为不当的惩罚”和“被恶魔附身”，评价较低。
需要开展提高以中文为母语的澳大利亚人群心理健康素养的宣传活动。在制定文化相关的教育计划时，需要考虑到上述受社会和文化驱动的信仰。
