Immigration is a complex circumstance that exacts a serious toll from the migrant in terms of mental, physical, and socioeconomic status. Among migrating peoples, it is the refugee who encounters the greatest number of personal and social obstacles to resettlement and adaptation. The degree of effective acculturation among Southeast Asian refugees is largely unknown, but it appears that adjustment difficulties are manifest more and more in psychotic episodes, substance abuse, and other antisocial behaviors. This report reviews the literature that documents the incidence of mental health disturbance among this population and describes some of the treatment approaches being tried at various health care centers across the country. Nurses are confronted with the dilemma of integrating the techniques of modern clinical psychiatry with cultural reality into a model system for providing effective mental health services to ethnically diverse people. Described here is a Family Nurse Practitioner-faculty-student clinical experience designed to provide home health services to Southeast Asian refugees with psychiatric diagnoses.

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Community Mental Health Centers nursing human Nurse Practitioners ethnology Mental Disorders mental disease United States California Southeast Asia cultural factor nurse practitioner Article organization and management migration Emigration and Immigration Cultural Characteristics Asia, Southeastern primary health care community mental health center