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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Hoa Bui Appel, PhD, MPH, School of Social Work, University of Washington, 4101 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105, 206-685-1931, happel@u.washington.edu

This study examines Asian Americans' health insurance coverage, rates of service use, and the quality of health care received. Our data were derived from the National Latino and Asian American Study, a nationally representative community household survey which describes the prevalence of mental disorders and rates of mental health utilization by Latinos and Asian Americans in the United States. One facet of insurance coverage that is less clear is how different types of medical insurance facilitate or constrain the use of health care services. Types of medical insurance, especially Medicaid, may differentially affect the use of mental health services. Current research shows that Asian Americans and other racial minorities do not seek help for mental health problems due to one major barrier, which is lack of health insurance. Some of the variables used in the study were ethnic origins, insurance type, nativity, and years residing in the U.S. Logistic regression models were used to assess service use patterns of the three subgroups of Asian Americans: Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese. Results show that Asian Americans with Medicaid are more likely to use health care services and mental health services than those with private insurance or no insurance. However, our findings show that Asian Americans appear to have lower rates of service use than the general population, especially those seeking help from mental health services. Results also show the disparity between mental health care received by Asian Americans and that received by the general population. Overall, less than 8% of Asian Americans sought help from any medical services, compared with almost 18% of the general population in the National Comorbidity Study. This low level of help seeking, consistent with previous studies, may be due to patients' failure to seek care until their conditions become severe. The present study signifies an important addition to the findings of mental health care and provides insight into how insurance and satisfaction of health services received varies by ethnicity and immigration status. In order to reduce health care disparities in mental health among ethnic and racial minorities, the findings recommend that health care professionals provide cultural and linguistic minorities with more access and referrals to specialists, especially mental health professionals.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Identify five barriers to obtaining mental health care for minority populations.
• 2.Describe ways in which primary care providers can increase access to mental health care in minority populations.
• 3.Discuss five reasons disparities in mental health care exist among minority populations.
• 4.List four ways to alleviate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

Keywords: Ethnic Minorities, Mental Health Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation