Assignment: Analyzing Focus Group Findings

Assignment: Analyzing Focus Group Findings

 

Imagine that two focus groups have been conducted in an Asian American and immigrant community in a large urban city. The rationale of conducting the qualitative study was because it has been noted that many Asian Americans and immigrants are reluctant to seek mental health services. To further understand this issue, service providers including social workers, counselors, doctors, and nurses were recruited to discuss the barriers in implementing mental health services targeted to Asian Americans and immigrants. After the focus groups were transcribed, two research assistants were hired to conduct a content analysis of the transcripts

As the social worker, you have been asked to analyze the focus group data and are charged with working with an advisory board in the community to formulate social work practice recommendations using the ecological model.

 

To prepare for this Assignment, .Refer to the attached document “Content Analysis of Focus Groups

 

Submit a 3-4-page report of the following:

 

  1. Discuss the themes found in the Content Analysis of Focus Groups. Based on this data, what is your analysis of the current barriers to services?

 

  1. Create two social work recommendations to address a current barrier and explain how the recommendation proposed addresses the findings.

 

  1. Discuss how you would collaborate with the research stakeholders (e.g. service providers and community members) to ensure that the data are interpreted accurately and that the practice recommendations made will be culturally appropriate.

 

  1. Critically reflect on your own culture and explain how your cultural values and beliefs may have influenced how you interpreted the focus group data. What specific cultural knowledge do you think you need to obtain to conduct culturally sensitive research with this group?

Focus Group

 Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Instructor’s Name

Date

Focus Group

Introduction

Mental health stigma affects all minority ethnic groups and cultures. Due to stigma and stereotypes, ethnic groups of Asian Americans have demonstrated a low level of help-seeking due to stigma (Tse & Haslam, 2021). The presented focus group is answering the question; What are the barriers to implementing mental health services in the Asian American community? The focus group admits that many Asian Americans fear going to psychiatrists due to social stigma. Using the focus group research presented, this paper intends to discuss various themes found in the document, create two social work recommendations, discuss how to collaborate with the research stakeholders, and critically reflect on the writer’s own culture.

Discuss the themes found in the Content Analysis of Focus Groups. Based on this data, what is your analysis of the current barriers to services?

The main focus of the content analysis of the focus group was barriers to implementing mental health services in the Asian American Community. Several themes arose based on the main topic or focus of the research. The content analysis identified major barriers as patient-related barriers, service provider-related barriers, system barriers, and barriers related to professional medical/psychiatry culture (Tse & Haslam, 2021). Regarding patient-related barriers, social stigma is significantly reflected as the major issue. Many Asian Americans reported fear of going to psychiatrists due to social stigma. Financial constraints also make patients fail to seek mental care (Tse & Haslam, 2021). Characteristics of patients that may hinder the process include mist trust in mental health, failure to ask for assistance, and their view of a mental health provider as the last resort.

Service provider-related barriers include a lack of training or skills to administer culturally sensitive care. Lack of understanding of another culture may lead to misdiagnosis since providers may not be sure to distinguish whether they are observing a mental illness or behavior typical of the patient’s culture (Galletti, 2022). Cultural assumption is another service provider-related barrier. It happens when caregivers make assumptions about others based on their culture. All these are some of the barriers identified in the content analysis of the focus group.

Create two social work recommendations to address a current barrier and explain how the recommendation proposed addresses the findings

Community outreach campaigns and education to improve mental health services. Social workers can organize community education to try and reach all individuals of Asian origin. The community educational program should improve the learners’ understanding of mental health (Abojaradeh et al., 2019). They should understand that mental health can be managed and symptoms eliminated and that mental health is not a curse as some of them might believe. The educational program should help them eradicate mistrust about mental health care, and attitudes towards caregivers, especially of different cultures. The education will also help them learn the advantages associated with seeking help and the disadvantaged of failure to seek help (Abojaradeh et al., 2019). Community education and outreach will try to resolve barriers related to the characteristics of Asian patients.

Social workers are advocates and they fight for the rights of others and work to seek resources by convincing others of the legitimate needs and rights of members of society. The second social work recommendation is that social workers can talk to leaders at the national, state, and local leaders to offer subsidized or free mental health screening and treatment for the Asian American communities (Galletti, 2022). The social workers can persuade the government and local authorities to sponsor fees or subsided mental health services for a given period. This strategy will address barriers related to financial constraints and the high cost of care.

Discuss how you would collaborate with the research stakeholders (e.g. service providers and community members) to ensure that the data are interpreted accurately and that the practice recommendations made will be culturally appropriate.

One of the barriers identified in the content analysis of the focus group is stigma based on cultural differences. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that practice recommendations are culturally appropriate (Tse & Haslam, 2021). To ensure culturally appropriate interventions, health care workers will undergo training regarding the importance of culturally appropriate care. They will be able to understand how to identify, prevent, and rectify stereotypes and stigma based on culture. Community members will be asked to provide accurate data to improve care (Abojaradeh et al., 2019). Both service providers and community members can collaborate and produce volunteers who would be trained in data analysis to ensure accurate interpretation of data.

Critically reflect on your own culture and explain how your cultural values and beliefs may have influenced how you interpreted the focus group data. What specific cultural knowledge do you think you need to obtain to conduct culturally sensitive research with this group?

How one would interpret the focus group data may be influenced by his/her cultural values and beliefs. For instance, Caucasian values and beliefs are more inclined toward western medicine (Galletti, 2022). Therefore, they might perceive failure to seek mental care as a concern that needs to be addressed. Cultures that belief in conventional medicine might tend to be neutral in their analysis. Such analysis is accurate and unbiased. To demonstrate culturally appropriate research, it is important to have much knowledge about Asian Americans (Tse & Haslam, 2021). Understanding some of the beliefs and values of Asian Americans might help guide caregivers on the best approaches. Language is an important skill that care providers should have. Speaking in a language that is associated with the patient’s culture improves the therapeutic relationship and improves trust between the health worker and the patient (Abojaradeh et al., 2019). Respect for one’s culture is important to combat stereotypes, racism, and discrimination.

Conclusion

Mental health is a major problem across all ethnic groups. Asian Americans are among minority groups in the US experiencing disparities in mental care services. Several barriers to mental care among Asian Americans have been identified in the content analysis of the focus group. Furthermore, two recommendations, including measures to ensure culturally appropriate interventions have all been discussed.

References

Abojaradeh, A. M., Shehadeh, J., Abojaradeh, A., & Bsisu, I. K. (2019). Effectiveness of community-based mental health education programs on mental health issues awareness level among students in Jordan. Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 54-59. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Isam-Bsisu/publication/332991772_Effectiveness_of_community-based_mental_health_education_programs_on_mental_health_issues_awareness_level_among_students_in_Jordan/links/5cd5747aa6fdccc9dd9da46f/Effectiveness-of-community-based-mental-health-education-programs-on-mental-health-issues-awareness-level-among-students-in-Jordan.pdf

Galletti, G. (2022). How the Mental Health System Fails Asian Americans — And How to Help. https://www.calhealthreport.org/2022/02/02/heres-why-many-asian-americans-dont-get-mental-health-care-and-how-to-help/

Tse, J. S., & Haslam, N. (2021). Inclusiveness of the Concept of Mental Disorder and Differences in Help-Seeking Between Asian and White Americans. Frontiers in Psychology, 3221. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.699750

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *