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Abstract #153214

Lucy Guo¹, Matthew J. Magee, MPH², Ami Shah, MPH³, Steven Whitman, PhD³, Hong Liu, PhD², and Sandhya Krishnan, MA². (1) Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, 1603 West Taylor, Chicago, IL 60612, 8154837300, lucyguo@gmail.com, (2) Asian Health Coalition of Illinois, 4753 N. Broadway, Suite 614, Chicago, IL 60640, (3) Sinai Urban Health Institute, 1500 S. California Avenue, Mount Sinai Hospital, K439, Chicago, IL 60608

Objectives: Little information exists on the mental health needs of Asian Americans. Response rates to depression inventories tend to be low, and few measures have been validated in Asian American communities. Surveys that use a list of depressive symptoms have been effective in other communities, and were used in this study to identify both individual and community level mental health needs in Chicago's Chinatown community. Methods: Random Census block sampling was used to identify eligible households and individuals. Participants were eligible if they were18 years and older, self-identified as Asian, and consented to the study. Bi-lingual interviewers completed face-to-face questionnaires at participants' residences in Cantonese, Mandarin or English. A 10-item short form of the CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression) was used to screen for depression. Results: Almost all participants (97%) answered at least 6 of the 12 depression questions. Participants with a score of 4 or more were considered “depressed”; 11% of participants were depressed, with more females (70%) than males (30%) reporting depressive symptoms. More participants reported knowing a depressed Chinatown resident (14%) or a family member (7%) than self-identifying as depressed. Mid-project interviewer evaluations identified the mental health questions as uncomfortable for participants, and that a dichotomous response choice of yes/no might have reduced responses. Conclusions: Measuring mental health needs in the Asian American is complicated by the stigma associated with depression. Participants may be unwilling to identify individual or family mental health needs. Additionally, question structure may influence response rate.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the prevalence of mental health outcomes in Chicago’s Chinatown community.
• Identify challenges of using standard mental health scales in Asian American communities.
• Discuss implications for mental health resources in Asian American communities.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.