Stressors and coping strategies of ethnic minority youth: Youth and mental health practitioners' perspectives

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the mental health needs of ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong and examine the importance of mental health practitioners' cultural competence in an Asian context. Within a qualitative paradigm, five mental health practitioners who provide mental health services to ethnic minority youth were interviewed. A total of 38 young people (16 Pakistanis and 22 Filipinos) from ethnic minority backgrounds were also placed into six small groups. Each individual attended a meeting at which he or she discussed stressors and coping methods. The participants were individually interviewed immediately after the group meeting, to help us gain an understanding of their experiences in a group setting in regard to discussing their stress. We show in this exploratory study how the stressors and coping methods of young people from ethnic minorities align with their cultures and ethnicities. They demonstrated a paradoxical attitude toward disclosing their personal needs and problems. Chinese mental health practitioners, however, tended to underestimate the needs of ethnic minority youth and believed that they were less willing than were other youth to disclose their personal problems. The findings of this study suggest that cultural distance between ethnic minority youth and mental health practitioners is a barrier to multicultural mental health services. Hence, cultural competence should be further promoted and integrated into daily clinical practice.