ABSTRACT

Objectives

This study explored community leaders’ understanding of depression among older Korean Americans and barriers to seeking mental health services. Depression is prevalent among older Korean Americans, but they are less likely to seek help from professionals and prefer to use informal methods. Older Korean Americans strongly prefer to maintain their ethnic traditions and use community service agencies provided by their same ethnicity. In this regard, community leaders who provide services for older adults play a significant role in not only advocating for the population but also in developing services and programs for their communities.

Design

In this qualitative study, 12 Korean community leaders who provide services for older adults were interviewed. Data were analyzed thematically, and Nvivo 12 was used to organize the data and to detect relevant themes.

Results

Findings showed that community leaders had an in-depth understanding of the causes of depression from environmental and cultural contexts including isolation, losing independence, cultural factors, and lack of family support. However, although the leaders were aware of the severity of depression among older Korean Americans, they did not understand biologically-based factors; rather, they considered it a natural part of aging. Findings indicated that they were biased towards older adults like older Korean Americans, attributing depressive symptoms to personality issues. They also heavily rely on personal experiences to understand depression instead of on having educational training. Barriers to getting help for older adults include lack of the perceived need of older adults, lack of professionals, and a prevalent stigma against depression that encourages individuals to hide their illness.

Conclusions

The findings indicated that community-based educational training is necessary to increase understanding of depression not only for the community leaders but also for individuals and families.

中文翻译：

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社区领袖对抑郁症的看法以及为年长的韩裔美国人寻求心理健康服务的障碍

摘要

目标

本研究探讨了社区领袖对老年韩裔美国人抑郁症的理解以及寻求心理健康服务的障碍。抑郁症在年长的韩裔美国人中普遍存在，但他们不太可能寻求专业人士的帮助，更喜欢使用非正式的方法。年长的韩裔美国人强烈倾向于保持他们的民族传统，并使用同民族提供的社区服务机构。在这方面，为老年人提供服务的社区领袖不仅在倡导人口方面发挥着重要作用，而且在为其社区开发服务和计划方面也发挥着重要作用。

设计

在这项定性研究中，采访了 12 位为老年人提供服务的韩国社区领袖。对数据进行主题分析，并使用 Nvivo 12 组织数据并检测相关主题。

结果

调查结果表明，社区领导者从环境和文化背景中深入了解抑郁症的原因，包括孤立、失去独立性、文化因素和缺乏家庭支持。然而，尽管领导人意识到老年韩裔美国人抑郁症的严重性，但他们并不了解基于生物学的因素；相反，他们认为这是衰老的自然组成部分。调查结果表明，他们偏向于像年长的韩裔美国人这样的老年人，将抑郁症状归因于人格问题。他们还严重依赖个人经历来理解抑郁症，而不是接受教育培训。老年人获得帮助的障碍包括缺乏老年人的感知需求、缺乏专业人员、

结论

调查结果表明，以社区为基础的教育培训对于增加对抑郁症的了解不仅对社区领导者而且对个人和家庭都是必要的。