An internet survey of emotional health, treatment seeking and barriers to accessing mental health treatment among Chinese-speaking international students in Australia

The present internet survey examined the demographic characteristics of Chinese-speaking international students in Australia, psychological distress levels as measured by the Kessler-10 (K-10) Item scale, help-seeking history and preferences, as well as treatment barriers. Of the 144 respondents, 54...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Counselling psychology quarterly 2014-01, Vol.27 (1), p.96-108
Main Authors: Lu, Sharon Huixian, Dear, Blake Farran, Johnston, Luke, Wootton, Bethany May, Titov, Nickolai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
barriers
Biological and medical sciences
Chinese international tertiary students
College students
Emotional disorders
Foreign students
help-seeking preferences
Helpseeking
Internet
internet treatments
Knowledge
Medical sciences
Mental health
Mental health care
mental health service use
Mental health services
Miscellaneous
Overseas students
Polls & surveys
Psychological distress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Symptoms
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Summary:The present internet survey examined the demographic characteristics of Chinese-speaking international students in Australia, psychological distress levels as measured by the Kessler-10 (K-10) Item scale, help-seeking history and preferences, as well as treatment barriers. Of the 144 respondents, 54% reported high psychological distress (mean K-10 score = 23.96; SD = 9.03). However, only 9% of those who were highly distressed reported they had sought mental health services in the past year. While the majority preferred help from informal social networks, they tended to favour mental health services over traditional culture-specific forms of help. Common barriers to accessing mental health services reported by respondents with high psychological distress included costs or transportation concerns, limited knowledge of available services, time constraints, the perception that symptoms were not severe enough to warrant treatment, language difficulties and lack of knowledge of symptoms of psychological distress. Although the majority preferred face-to-face treatments over internet treatments, a considerable percentage of respondents were willing to try either treatment modality. Chinese-speaking international students are a high risk group for developing psychological distress, yet they tend to underuse mental health services. Education about the effectiveness of face-to-face and online treatments may increase treatment seeking by this population.
ISSN:0951-5070
1469-3674
DOI:10.1080/09515070.2013.824408