Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Apr 7, 2020
Date Accepted: Aug 13, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 17, 2020
Mental Health Professional Consultations and the Prevalence of Mood and Anxiety Disorders Among Immigrants: A Multilevel Analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Despite the significant body of evidence on the link between migration and mental health stressors, there has been very little research on immigrants’ use of mental health services in Canada. The prevalence and correlates of mental health professional consultations among immigrants are not well understood and is largely unknown.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to examine the differences in reported visits to mental health professionals among immigrants compared to individuals born in Canada, in a nationally representative sample of Canadian adults. This study also examined this differences by self-reported diagnosis of mood and anxiety disorders among immigrants and individuals born in Canada.
Methods:
The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2015-2016 was used to calculate the estimated prevalence rates of the following mental health professional consultations – any and psychiatrist. The characteristics associated with mental health professional consultations were determined through multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Results:
Immigrants were less likely to consult any mental health professional, but were more likely to consult a psychiatrist, when compared to Canadian-born populations. Ideally, it is expected that immigrants who have a lower prevalence of mood or anxiety disorders would use all types of mental health services less frequently, yet, when the prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of mood or anxiety disorders were taken into consideration, the identified differences in the type of consultations still persisted. Immigrants were still more likely to consult a psychiatrist than their Canadian-born counterparts.
Conclusions:
Interventions and programming are needed to promote the mental health and well-being of immigrants. Mental health initiatives need to be cognizant of the differences in the associated characteristics of consultations for immigrants to better tailor mental health services to be responsive to the unique needs of immigrant populations in Canada.
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Copyright
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