Perceptions and barriers about mental health services among Pacific Islanders: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Every year, millions of Americans do not receive needed mental health (MH) services. Although Pacific Islanders (PI) have a high need for MH services, this group has the lowest rate of MH care help seeking. This is especially concerning as the rate of suicide has been increasing within the PI community. This study explored how Pacific Islanders think about MH supports, including their attitudes toward and perceptions of barriers to receiving MH services. An interpretative phenomenological analysis focus group study was conducted with cross-generational Pacific Islanders residing in one western state. The findings include (a) PI perceptions that MH help seeking results in family burdensomeness, stigma, and shame; (b) negotiating PI social customs and beliefs related to MH help seeking, care, and support; and (c) PI mistrust of institutional resources. These themes seemed to interact with each other and create perpetuate barriers which prevent help-seeking behaviors. Clinical and research implications will be provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Intersecting Identities: A Look at How Ethnic Identity Interacts With Science Identity in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Students.

Understanding the experiences of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) students in science courses can help us foster inclusivity and belonging for these often excluded and unacknowledged students. Using social influence theory as a framework, we investigated the intersection between ethnic-racial identity and science identity in NHPI students to better understand their experiences in undergraduate Biology courses. We collected both quantitative and qualitative data and used concurrent triangulation design in our mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data include measures of student pre- and post-course science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, sense of belonging, environmental concern, strength of ethnic-racial identity, and the interaction between ethnic-racial and science identity. We measured environmental concern because NHPI cultures often have strong connections with the environment that may overlap well with environmental science values. Qualitative data included short responses to survey questions that asked students to describe the interaction between their science identity and their ethnicity. We found that NHPI and non-NHPI students do not significantly differ in any construct we measured, nor do they experience different gains across a semester when comparing pre- and post-scores. We also found that NHPI students' feelings concerning the intersection of their ethnic and science identities are varied and complex, with some students expressing feelings of conflict and many others expressing a strengthening relationship between those identities. We discuss implications for instructors and encourage them to acknowledge the community culture of wealth NHPI students bring to the classroom because of their ethnic-racial identities.

Examining Expectations Among Polynesian Americans About Seeking Psychotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: Research on culturally diverse clients has investigated expectations about psychotherapy and intention to seek counseling. However, few studies have investigated how these factors may be linked to specific client expectations, such as advice-seeking (the client expecting the therapist to give advice) and audience-seeking (the client expecting to lead the sessions) behaviors, particularly for U.S. racial-ethnic minority populations. METHODS: This study used a survey to investigate 593 Polynesian Americans' gender and ethnic preferences for therapists, as well as the mediating effects of advice- and audience-seeking behaviors and their associations with intention to seek counseling and expectations about psychotherapy. RESULTS: Results indicated that audience-seeking behavior mediated the association between expectations about the psychotherapy process and intention to seek counseling for psychological and interpersonal concerns and between expectations about psychotherapy outcomes and intention to seek counseling for academic concerns. CONCLUSIONS: Culturally competent counseling for Polynesian Americans, a fast-growing yet understudied population in the United States, is needed, particularly by psychotherapists working with these individuals. Expectations about the process of therapy, such as audience-seeking behavior, may be important to consider in working with this population.

Perceived Perfectionism from God Scale: Development and Initial Evidence.

In this study, the Perceived Perfectionism from God Scale (PPGS) was developed with Latter-day Saints (Mormons) across two samples. Sample 1 (N = 421) was used for EFA to select items for the Perceived Standards from God (5 items) and the Perceived Discrepancy from God (5 items) subscales. Sample 2 (N = 420) was used for CFA and cross-validated the 2-factor oblique model as well as a bifactor model. Perceived Standards from God scores had Cronbach alphas ranging from .73 to .78, and Perceived Discrepancy from God scores had Cronbach alphas ranging from .82 to .84. Standards from God scores were positively correlated with positive affect, whereas Discrepancy from God scores was positively correlated with negative affect, shame and guilt. Moreover, these two PPGS subscale scores added significant incremental variances in predicting associated variables over and above corresponding personal perfectionism scores.

Racial discrimination and psychological health among Polynesians in the U.S.

OBJECTIVES: There is a dearth of research on the mental health of Polynesians residing in the United States. The aims of this study were to examine experiences of racial discrimination, self-esteem, trait anger, satisfaction with life, and psychological well-being among 628 Polynesians (e.g., Native Hawaiian, Tongan, Samoan, Fijian, Tahitian, Maori; 60% women (n = 378) and 40% men (n = 249); mean age = 28.7). METHOD: Measures were administered through an online survey to 628 Polynesians residing in the United States. Comparison analyses between men and women, correlations, and path analyses were analyzed for this Polynesian sample. RESULTS: Polynesian women showed higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of depression and anxiety. Racial discrimination was inversely correlated with self-esteem and satisfaction with life, and positively linked to trait anger, depression, anxiety, and stress. Self-esteem had an indirect effect on the relationship between racial discrimination and satisfaction with life. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health professionals need to be aware of racial discrimination on psychological health and incorporate the value of self-esteem in the psychological treatment of Polynesians. Additional results are provided and implications of these findings are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record

Collectivistic coping strategies for distress among Polynesian Americans.

Previous research has shown that psychological services designed to assist clients in coping with stressful or traumatic events are more effective when aligned with clients' cultural values, practices, and worldviews. However, limited research is available regarding the preferred coping strategies of Polynesian Americans. In examining collectivistic coping styles and their association with previous distress among 94 Polynesian Americans, we found that participants were highly likely to use family support and religion/spirituality to buffer the initial and residual effects of impairment attributable to distressing events, and private emotional outlets, such as psychotherapy, very infrequently. The use of private emotional outlets was associated with lower impairment from distress, although family support was much more predictive of lower impairment and positive psychological well-being. Mental health professionals can align their services with the cultural values of Polynesian Americans by accounting for collectivistic coping styles and family dynamics.

Intrinsic religiousness and spirituality as predictors of mental health and positive psychological functioning in Latter-Day Saint adolescents and young adults.

We investigated the relationships between religiousness and spirituality and various indicators of mental health and positive psychosocial functioning in three separate samples of college students. A total of 898 students at Brigham Young University participated in the three studies. The students ranged in age from 17 to 26 years old, with the average age of 20.9 across all three samples. Our results indicate that intrinsic religiousness, spiritual maturity, and self-transcendence were significantly predictive of better mental health and positive functioning, including lower levels of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsiveness, and higher levels of global self-esteem, identity integration, moral self-approval, and meaning in life. Intrinsic religiousness was not predictive of shame, perfectionism, and eating disorder symptoms. These findings are consistent with many prior studies that have found religiousness and spirituality to be positively associated with better mental health and positive psychosocial functioning in adolescents and young adults.