Caregiver-Reported Barriers To Mental Health Service Use for Asian American Youth

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Research
• Public Health
• Sociology

Background:

• Asian American (AsAm) youth face significant disparities in mental health service utilization.
• Existing research often lacks quantitative data on barriers specific to this demographic.
• Understanding these barriers is critical for improving mental healthcare access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and characterize key barriers to youth mental health services across structural, perceptual, cultural, and trauma-specific domains.
• To explore the relationship between these barriers, youth psychopathology, and service utilization.
• To investigate unique barriers experienced by AsAm youth with clinically significant mental health symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Online survey administered to 149 AsAm caregivers reporting on barriers, youth symptoms, and service use.
• Analysis of barriers across multiple domains (structural, perceptual, cultural, trauma-specific).
• Comparison of barrier endorsement between caregivers of youth with and without clinically significant symptoms.

Main Results:

• Caregivers reported significant barriers across all domains.
• Medical services were most frequently used, followed by school-based care and therapy.
• Caregivers of youth with clinical symptoms endorsed more barriers, with unique barriers identified in this subgroup.
• Barrier scores correlated positively with perceived need for therapy and school-based services, and with past-year use of school-based services.
• Higher perceived barriers were associated with more severe youth mental health symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Culturally relevant barriers, alongside universal ones, impede mental health service access for AsAm youth.
• Addressing these multifaceted barriers is essential for enhancing engagement with mental health services.
• Further research is needed to validate findings in broader AsAm youth populations.