Empowering Chinese American Adolescents and Parents for Mental Health Help-Seeking

ABSTRACT The current state of science in Chinese American (CA) adolescent mental health service use is remarkably inadequate. This proposal aims to culturally adapt, and pilot test an online, culturally appropriate interventions to improve mental health help-seeking among CA adolescents and parents. The Specific Aims of the proposed research are: Aim 1: Culturally adapt evidence-based practices (EBPs) for an online intervention protocol to reduce Mental Health (MH) stigma and improve MH service use in CA adolescents and parents. Aim 2: Determine the feasibility of conducting a trial to evaluate the impact of the intervention on initiation and sustained utilization of MH services in adolescents with newly screened to have affective disorders, comparing it to a control group receiving only service referrals. Aim 3: Examine the experiences and perspectives of both CA parents and adolescents who participated in the anti-stigma online protocol as well as intervention facilitators to evaluate its acceptability. The proposed research is significant and innovative in multiple ways. First, we focus on CA adolescents, an extremely understudied population in health services research. A portfolio review of clinical research funded by the NIH from 1992 to 2018 revealed that only 0.17% of the total NIH budget was directed to studies on Asian American — including CA — populations. Second, our focus will be on intervening on risk and protective mechanisms through a culturally sensitive lens. Therefore, the proposed research is highly relevant to NIH's focus on understanding modifiable factors to inform interventions. Lastly, this study will be carried out by the PI and a research team with expertise in MH services research, intervention development, and treatment of MH problems among CA adolescents.