Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 16, Issue 6, 2014, Pages 1093-1102

Acculturation Differences in Communicating Information About Child Mental Health Between Latino Parents and Primary Care Providers (Article)

Cook B.L.* , Brown J.D. , Loder S. , Wissow L.
  • a Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research, Cambridge Health Alliance, 120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143, United States, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143, United States
  • b Mathematica Policy Research, 1100 1st St NE #1200, Washington, DC 20002, United States
  • c Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research, Cambridge Health Alliance, 120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143, United States
  • d Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway Street, #703, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States

Abstract

Significant Latino-white disparities in youth mental health care access and quality exist yet little is known about Latino parents’ communication with providers about youth mental health and the role of acculturation in influencing this communication. We estimated regression models to assess the association between time in the US and the number of psychosocial issues discussed with the medical assistant (MA) and doctor, adjusting for child and parent mental health and sociodemographics. Other proxies of acculturation were also investigated including measures of Spanish and English language proficiency and nativity. Parent’s length of time in the US was positively associated with their communication of: their child’s psychosocial problems with their child’s MA, stress in their own life with their child’s MA, and their child’s school problems with their child’s doctor. These differences were especially apparent for parents living in the US for >10 years. Parent–child language discordance, parent and child nativity were also significantly associated with communication of psychosocial problems. Greater provider and MA awareness of variation in resistance to communicating psychosocial issues could improve communication, and improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of youth mental illness. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Author Keywords

Patient–provider communication Latino mental health Acculturation Immigration Children’s mental health

Index Keywords

Parents doctor patient relation Physician-Patient Relations Communication interpersonal communication mental health human general practitioner ethnology Hispanic Americans Mental Disorders mental disease Young Adult Humans psychology Hispanic Adolescent parent Acculturation preschool child Infant Child, Preschool cultural factor adult Physicians, Primary Care Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84912038450&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-014-0010-2&partnerID=40&md5=4cb6468f9eaad9fd22534c9d2866ea84
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0010-2
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English