Using Participatory Culture-Specific Consultation with Asian American Communities: Identifying Challenges and Solutions for Asian American Immigrant Families

ABSTRACT

This qualitative case study illustrates the application of the participatory culture-specific consultation model in building university–community partnership between a university research team and four Asian American community organizations. It also describes a collaborative data collection process through the “Hear Me Out” essay contest and workshop to identify needs and challenges experienced by Asian immigrant families. Essays were collected from 27 Asian American adolescents (77.8% female) and 11 immigrant parents (63.3% female). This culture-specific formative research resulted in themes relating to the challenges faced by Asian families, family strengths, and solutions. Based on the themes, we developed the culture-specific hypothesis: it is important for consultants and school staff to recognize Asian immigrant families’ strength, but also develop empathy for and openness about their challenges, improve parent-youth communication and positive parenting, and promote parents’ awareness of mental health to promote positive youth development. Results will inform intervention development with Asian immigrant families.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cixin Wang

Dr. Cixin Wang is an Assistant Professor of School Psychology in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, and faculty affiliate in Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in School Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on bullying prevention, mental health promotion, and parenting, especially for youth from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Xiaoping Shao

Dr. Xiaoping Shao is an attending psychiatrist at the Veterans' Affairs' Medical Center in Washington D.C., and also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University, School of Medicine. She received her medical education from Shanghai Second Medical University (Current Name: Jiaotong University School of Medicine) and she completed her psychiatric residency training at Harvard Medical School. During her leisure time, Dr. Shao is involved in education and mental health care for the Asian-American community in the Washington Metropolitan area. She is one of the main contributors to Mental Health 360, a program with a focus on improving and enhancing mental health awareness and knowledge among the Asian American community through education and other activities in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Kieu Anh Do

Dr. Kieu Anh Do is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She received her Ph.D. in Child, Youth and Family Studies at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Her research focuses on family resilience, culture, and mental health.

Huixing Kate Lu

Huixing (Kate) Lu is an experienced administrator for social service agencies. In the past 8 years, Kate worked as the clinic director for Pan Asian Volunteer Health Clinic, a safety net clinic at Gaithersburg, Maryland, serving low income, uninsured residents  . Kate developed several health related service programs including STOP B Project (a hepatitis B prevention program),  Mental Health 360® program and other social service program. Kate is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker licensed in the State of Maryland (LCSW-C) and Washington D.C. (LICSW). She provides clinical services including diagnosis, counseling to client and families suffered from depression, anxiety, and autism in various mental health settings.

Colleen R. O’Neal

Dr. Colleen R. O’Neal is an Associate Professor of School Psychology in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. O’Neal earned a BA in Psychology from Cornell University in 1990. She completed a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University in 2000 with NIMH predoctoral fellowship support, and then completed an NIMH postdoctorate in Mental Health Statistics at NYU. Her primary research goals are to identify risk and resilience processes among ethnic minority immigrant and refugee students with a focus on emotions, stress, achievement, and prevention.

Yuan Zhang

Yuan Zhang is a second-year doctoral student in Human Development and Family Science at University of Connecticut. She received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Applied Psychology from the Shanxi University in China. She also received a second Masters’ degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University, California. Her research interests are on parent-child relationships, acculturative stress, and identity development in immigrant families, especially Asian immigrant families.