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Sub-Saharan African migrant youths’ help-seeking barriers and facilitators for mental health and substance use problems: a qualitative study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Psychiatry, August 2016
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Title
Sub-Saharan African migrant youths’ help-seeking barriers and facilitators for mental health and substance use problems: a qualitative study
Published in
BMC Psychiatry, August 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12888-016-0984-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Terence V. McCann, Janette Mugavin, Andre Renzaho, Dan I. Lubman

Abstract

Many young migrants and their parents are reluctant to seek help for mental health and substance use problems. Help-seeking delays can result in longer duration of untreated problems and poorer outcomes. In this study, we aimed to identify the help-seeking barriers and facilitators for anxiety, depression and alcohol and drug use problems in young people from recently established sub-Saharan African migrant communities. A qualitative study, incorporating individual, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, was undertaken in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-eight young sub-Saharan African migrants participated in the individual interviews, and 41 sub-Saharan African-born parents and key community leaders participated in 4 focus groups. All participants were aged 16 years or over. A thematic analysis of the data was undertaken. Themes and related sub-themes were abstracted from the data, reflecting the young people's, parents' and key community leaders' beliefs about barriers and facilitators to help-seeking for mental health and substance use problems. Four help-seeking barriers were identified: stigma of mental illness, lack of mental health literacy in parents and young people, lack of cultural competency of formal help sources, and financial costs deterring access. Five help-seeking facilitators were abstracted: being open with friends and family, strong community support systems, trustworthiness and confidentiality of help-sources, perceived expertise of formal help-sources, increasing young people's and parents' mental health literacy. Programs that identify and build on help-seeking facilitators while addressing help-seeking barriers are needed to address mental health issues among young sub-Saharan African migrants. Strategies to address help-seeking barriers should consider counteracting stigma and increasing mental health literacy in sub-Saharan African communities, increasing health providers' cultural competency and perceived trustworthiness, and addressing financial barriers to accessing services.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 381 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Colombia 1 <1%
Unknown 380 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 72 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 44 12%
Student > Bachelor 40 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 38 10%
Researcher 27 7%
Other 44 12%
Unknown 116 30%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 83 22%
Social Sciences 44 12%
Medicine and Dentistry 42 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 38 10%
Business, Management and Accounting 8 2%
Other 41 11%
Unknown 125 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 July 2017.
All research outputs
#19,292,491
of 23,881,329 outputs
Outputs from BMC Psychiatry
#4,109
of 4,939 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#290,253
of 371,483 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Psychiatry
#80
of 105 outputs
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