A Contemporary Look at Cross-Cultural Barriers to Mental Health Services
A Contemporary Look at Cross-Cultural Barriers to Mental Health Services
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Issue Date
2023-03
Authors
Singh, Paul
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Abstract
Contemporary research continues to highlight mental health stigma as a key barrier to service utilization existing for many regions and cultures across the globe. Additionally, acculturation and migration issues and a current lack of culturally-competent mental health services and trainings available emerge in literature a key barriers to service utilization. While cultural-diversity is being acknowledged more systemically than ever before, most mental health systems still derive from Western-based medicine and philosophies which struggle to integrate cultural-competence, and seemingly have relied on acculturation processes and psychoeducation to increase service utilization for diverse and migrant populations. Thus, this paper analyzes current cross-cultural trends, similarities and differences on barriers to service utilization such as mental health stigma, acculturation and migration issues, and the reported lack of culturally-competent services and trainings available. Caucasian, East Asian, and South Asian populations are the primary focus within this cross-cultural analysis. Several key findings urge governments and mental health service-providers to strive for cultural-competence through systemic changes that provide collaborative, integrated, and individualized mental healthcare that can be better customized to service-user needs. Additionally, mental healthcare funders are encouraged to engage in more area and community-based research and interventions to identify local mental health trends and barriers to service utilization, leading to more culturally-competent services and staff trainings, and local mental health awareness and education that is tailored based on the specific needs of the area or region studied. My own bi-cultural identity and professional experiences within a culturally-diverse region in Canada provide framework on the relevance of this topic to the field of counselling and mental health within a growing and migrating world.
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Keywords
cultural competence , acculturation , stigma , South Asian , East Asian