Center for Mental Health and Aging, The University of Alabama, Box 870315, 35487-0315 Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2011 Jan;45(1):104-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.04.031. Epub 2010 May 26.
Language barriers pose problems in mental health care for foreign-born individuals in the United States. Immigrants with psychiatric disorders may be at particular risk but are currently understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on mental health service use among immigrant adults with psychiatric disorders. Drawn from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), Latino and Asian immigrant adults aged 18-86 with any instrument-determined mood, anxiety, and substance use disorder (n = 372) were included in the present analysis. Results from hierarchical logistic regression analyses showed that having health insurance, poor self-rated mental health, and more psychiatric disorders were independently associated with higher probability of mental health service use in the Latino group. After controlling for all background characteristics and mental health need factors, LEP significantly decreased odds of mental health service use among Latino immigrants. None of the factors including LEP predicted mental health service use among Asian immigrants, who were also the least likely to access such services. LEP was a barrier to mental health service use among Latino immigrants with psychiatric disorders. This study suggests that future approaches to interventions might be well advised to include not only enhancing the availability of bilingual service providers and interpretation services but also increasing awareness of such options for at least Latino immigrants. In addition, further investigation is needed to identify factors that can enhance access to mental health care services among Asians.
语言障碍给美国的外国出生人群的精神健康护理带来了问题。有精神障碍的移民可能面临特别的风险，但目前对他们的研究还很少。本研究旨在调查英语水平有限（LEP）对有精神障碍的移民成年精神健康服务使用的影响。本研究的数据来自国家拉丁裔和亚裔美国人研究（NLAAS），纳入了 18-86 岁的有任何仪器确定的情绪、焦虑和物质使用障碍的拉丁裔和亚裔移民成年人（n=372）。分层逻辑回归分析的结果表明，有医疗保险、自我报告的心理健康状况较差和更多的精神障碍与拉丁裔群体更高的精神健康服务使用概率独立相关。在控制了所有背景特征和精神健康需求因素后，LEP 显著降低了拉丁裔移民使用精神健康服务的可能性。包括 LEP 在内的任何因素都没有预测到亚裔移民使用精神健康服务，而他们也是最不可能获得此类服务的人群。LEP 是拉丁裔有精神障碍的移民使用精神健康服务的障碍。本研究表明，未来的干预措施可能需要不仅增加双语服务提供者和口译服务的可用性，而且还要提高对这些选择的认识，至少对拉丁裔移民如此。此外，还需要进一步调查可以促进亚洲人获得精神保健服务的因素。
