Korean Immigrants' Perception and Help-Seeking Behaviors Toward Mental Illness

Background and Purpose

Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health service access and treatment outcomes have been a concern over several decades.  Yet, racial and ethnic minorities continue to experience lower levels of engagement in their treatment compared to their White counterparts (Derr, 2016).  Current literature on Asian immigrants is limited in that it does not pay attention to differences across diverse ethnic groups, including Korean immigrants.  Moreover, our knowledge is limited on how their demographic factors, stigma toward mental illness, and cultural values affect mental health service utilization.  Thus, this study seeks to understand Korean immigrants’ perception and help-seeking behaviors toward mental illness, comparing those with and without mental illness.

Methods

We utilized data from a project, Physical and Mental Well-Being of Koreans or Korean Americans, completed in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in 2014.  In the project, Korean adults aged 18 or older participated in the survey on mental health status, perception on mental well-being, and help-seeking behaviors.  This study’s sample included 428 individuals who had valid scores on both the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scales. Descriptive and chi-square analyses were conducted.

Results

Among the 428 participants, 115 had a cut-off score or higher on either the CES-D scale or the GAD-7 scale, and were considered to have mental illness in this study.  The demographic characteristics of the two groups, with and without mental illness, were similar except for their marital status (p<0.01) and household income (p<0.05). The participants without mental illness were more likely to be married and have a household income of $100,000 or more.

The participants with mental illness were more likely to report mental health problems within the past month (52.3% vs. 21.4%, p<0.001) and more difficulties in their activities at work and home as well as in their relationship with others (p<0.01).  

Regardless of mental illness presence, many participants preferred using informal support systems.  However, those with mental illness preferred handling problems on their own (p<0.05). While close to half of the participants without mental illness responded that they would definitely go for professional help when experiencing a mental health problem, the comparable percentage was 36.5% for those with mental illness (p<0.05).

The participants with mental illness also reported more discomfort in seeking professional help (p<0.05).  For both groups, the language of their preference and confidentiality were the most important factors in seeking mental health services.  However, professionals’ ethnicity being Korean was more important for participants with mental illness than their counterparts (p<0.05).

Conclusions and Implications

While Korean immigrants with mental illness were more likely to recognize their mental health problems and its impact, they were less likely to seek professional help than their counterparts.  Such study findings imply that stigma and culture may have more significantly affected those with mental illness.  This points out a great need to increase mental health awareness within the Korean immigrant communities, and to address beliefs and values including stigma that affect their mental health and treatment.