Objective: Asian Indians in the United States experience psychological impacts from traumatic experiences, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, Asian Indians underutilize mental health services that are attributed to culturally contextualized barriers and preferences for seeking mental health services. To advance this literature, we uniquely examined associations of PTSD symptom severity with institutional and internal help-seeking barriers for mental health services and with psychotherapy preferences.
Method: Participants were a community sample of 77 trauma-exposed Asian Indians residing in the southwest area of the United States (Mage = 31.61, 71.4% women).
Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that institutional barriers marginally associated with greater PTSD symptom severity. Supplemental analyses on the institutional barrier domain scores indicated that more ageist attitudes associated with lower PTSD symptom severity (β = -.52, p = .020), and more transportation difficulties associated with higher PTSD symptom severity (β = .36, p = .039). Lastly, results indicated that greater preference for psychotherapist directiveness associated with lower PTSD symptom severity (β = -.45, p = .016).
Conclusions: Clinical implications can be viewed from a socioecological framework recognizing the interplay of societal, familial, and individual-level factors that influence PTSD symptom severity among Asian Indians. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).