Key takeaways:
- About 1 in 4 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults and only 1 in 6 Asian American adults said they need mental health support.
- Nearly half of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American adults reported everyday experiences with discrimination.
- Nearly half of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American adults said they are worried about being a victim of gun violence, far exceeding the California population overall (30%).
- Researchers say more Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American mental health providers are needed.
Despite facing frequent experiences with discrimination and rising fears of hate crimes and gun violence, only 24% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults and 16% of Asian American adults in California say they need mental health support.
Among adults who sought mental health care, 42% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and 31% of Asian Americans had difficulties accessing services, citing cost, lack of insurance and not knowing their options.
To help increase the use of mental health care services among Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American adults, a new report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and AAPI Data, based at UC Riverside, recommends using more culturally relevant outreach specified for nationalities and languages.
“The goal of the report is to spur a more nuanced discourse on mental health for Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American communities,” said Ninez Ponce, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, or CHPR, and one of the report’s authors. Despite the need, research suggests that the Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American population, have some of the lowest rates of mental health service utilization compared to other racialized and minoritized populations.
This underutilization of services was exacerbated by how AANHPI communities bore the blame for the pandemic. Adding…
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