Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown 2571, Australia.
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 May 18;20(10):5862. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20105862.
Despite being disproportionately affected by poor mental health, culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) individuals seek help from mental health services at lower rates than others in the Australian population. The preferred sources of help for mental illness amongst CaLD individuals remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to explore sources of help in Arabic-, Mandarin-, and Swahili-speaking communities in Sydney, Australia. Eight focus-group discussions (n = 51) and twenty-six key informant interviews were undertaken online using Zoom. Two major themes were identified: informal sources of help and formal sources of help. Under the informal sources of help theme, three sub-themes were identified: social, religious, and self-help sources. All three communities strongly recognised the role of social sources of help, with more nuanced roles held by religion and self-help activities. Formal sources of help were described by all communities, although to a lesser extent than informal sources. Our findings suggest that interventions to support help-seeking for all three communities should involve building the capacity of informal sources of help, utilising culturally appropriate environments, and the collaboration between informal and formal sources of help. We also discuss differences between the three communities and offer service providers insights into unique issues that require attention when working with these groups.
尽管在心理健康方面受到不成比例的影响，文化和语言多样化（CaLD）个体寻求心理健康服务的比例却低于澳大利亚人口中的其他人。CaLD 个体中，精神疾病的首选治疗来源仍知之甚少。本研究旨在探索澳大利亚悉尼的阿拉伯语、普通话和斯瓦希里语社区的帮助来源。采用 Zoom 在线进行了八次焦点小组讨论（n=51）和二十六次关键知情人访谈。确定了两个主要主题：非正式帮助来源和正式帮助来源。在非正式帮助来源主题下，确定了三个子主题：社会、宗教和自助来源。所有三个社区都强烈认识到社会帮助来源的作用，宗教和自助活动具有更细微的作用。所有社区都描述了正式的帮助来源，但程度低于非正式的帮助来源。我们的研究结果表明，支持所有三个社区寻求帮助的干预措施应包括增强非正式帮助来源的能力、利用文化上适当的环境以及非正式和正式帮助来源之间的合作。我们还讨论了这三个社区之间的差异，并为服务提供商提供了在与这些群体合作时需要关注的独特问题的见解。
