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Community Mental Health Allies: Referral Behavior Among Asian American Immigrant Christian Clergy

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Abstract

Asian American Christian faith leaders support and provide an array of services within their communities. However, little is known about their response to congregants’ mental health concerns. This study examined correlates of mental health referral behavior among 103 Asian American Christian clergy in California who completed an anonymous mail survey. Using multiple regression analyses, we found that clergy’s prior mental health education, knowledge of mental illness, education level, time spent providing individual counseling and referral to general practitioners were positively associated with making mental health referrals. Outreach efforts (including mental health education, and mental health referral information) to facilitate clergy’s support of congregants with mental health needs are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Diana Nguyen, Tam Dinh, Cathy Yu Lai, Hannah Nguyen, Susanna Lee, Lucian Song, Shu Ren, Stan Yamada, Vincy Lee, Vicky Yang and Beverly Chen for assistance with data collection, analysis/coding, or comments on previous drafts of manuscripts. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Larson Endowment for Innovative Research and Teaching, the School of Social Work, University of Southern California and from a grant Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Southern California awarded to the first author. Additional research support was provided to the first author by the School of Social Work, University of Southern California.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Southern California, 669 West 34th Street, Montgomery Ross Fisher Bldg, 102C, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0411, USA

    Ann-Marie Yamada, Karen Kyeunghae Lee & Min Ah Kim

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  1. Ann-Marie Yamada
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  2. Karen Kyeunghae Lee
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  3. Min Ah Kim
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Correspondence to Ann-Marie Yamada.

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Yamada, AM., Lee, K.K. & Kim, M.A. Community Mental Health Allies: Referral Behavior Among Asian American Immigrant Christian Clergy. Community Ment Health J 48, 107–113 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9386-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9386-9

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