Healing Historical Trauma Among Vietnamese Americans: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Pilot Contemplative-Based Program

Background

Historical trauma has broad negative impacts on the socioeconomic and psychological well-being of Vietnamese-American immigrants, refugees, and their descendants, but research in this area remains scarce and deficit-focused. Contemplative interventions, which have demonstrated effectiveness in healing various forms of collective trauma among racial and ethnic minorities, present a promising approach for addressing historical trauma for Vietnamese-Americans. Furthermore, contemplative practices have strong potential to align with Vietnamese cultural values when developed alongside community. To address these research gaps, this study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a community-led contemplative-based intervention focused on healing historical trauma among Vietnamese-Americans. This was accomplished through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot program called Wellness, Emotional Alignment, and inTergenerational Healing (WEALTH).

Methods

Following six months of development via conversation with community members and hired consultants, WEALTH was piloted across two cohorts in 2023 and early 2024 at a major university in the Denver metropolitan area with a Vietnamese-American student population. The 4-week curriculum consisted of weekly 90-minute sessions with modules of psychoeducation, group dialogue, and contemplative practice. English-speaking Vietnamese-American participants ages 18-35 who had either immigrated to the U.S. or had at least one parent who immigrated to the U.S. were recruited via student organizations, community organizations, social media, and snowball sampling. To ease participant burden, food and free parking were provided during all sessions. Data were collected via audio-recorded sessions, post-program individual interviews, and a mixed-methods evaluation form with feasibility and acceptability items. To answer the research question, analysis was conducted solely on the evaluation forms, which contained Likert-scale questions about overall program experience and satisfaction and open-ended responses regarding experiences with specific modules and suggestions for improvement. Descriptive statistics of quantitative items were conducted using STATA software. Phenomenological qualitative analysis was conducted by three research team members using textual thematic analysis of open-ended responses uploaded to Dedoose software.

Results

Of the 29 participants who enrolled, 23 participants ages 18-34 (Mean: 23.2, SD: 4.63) were randomly assigned to join the group given limited group size, and the number of participants in any given session ranged from eight to twelve. Quantitative responses indicated that all participants found the group beneficial, learned new skills, and would recommend WEALTH to another person. Qualitative analysis further revealed that participants reported a) gained critical understanding of how historical and systematic factors have impacted their families and communities, b) greater exploration and integration of their Vietnamese-American identity, and c) increased compassion towards family and community members. Suggestions for improving the program predominantly centered on extending program session length or frequency.

Conclusions

Overall, findings point to the feasibility of a community-developed program for healing historical trauma in the Vietnamese-American community, the acceptability of community-healing modalities and integration of contemplative practice in this aim, and the critical need to address these issues given the request for longer sessions. Future research can explore mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of such a program, with possible implications for adaptation to additional diverse communities affected by historical trauma.