Background: Migration imposes stress and may contribute to the incidence of mental illness among natives of mainland China living overseas. Both cultural norms and service inadequacies may act as barriers to accessing needed mental health services.
Objective: Assess New Zealand health providers' perspectives on the utilization of mental health services by immigrants from mainland China.
Methods: A qualitative study in Christchurch, New Zealand involved in-depth interviews with nine mental health professionals with experience in providing services to Chinese clients. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed.
Results: FOUR MAIN THEMES EMERGED FROM THE INTERVIEWS: (1) specific mental health concerns of Chinese migrants; (2) subgroups of migrants most likely to manifest mental health problems; (3) barriers to accessing services; and (4) the centrality of social support networks to the mental health of Chinese migrants.
Conclusions: Qualitative research with health providers in high-income countries who provide mental health services to the growing numbers of migrants from mainland China can identify areas where improved cultural sensitivity could increase both the utilization of mental health services by Chinese immigrants and the effectiveness of these services.
背景: 移民事件会给当事人带来压力，可能提高海外华人居民精神疾病的患病率。文化习俗的差异和对华人精神卫生服务的缺乏也可能阻碍其寻求所需的服务。
目的: 评估新西兰医疗服务人员关于华人对精神卫生服务使用状况的观点。
方法: 本研究为定性研究。对新西兰克赖斯特彻奇九名曾为华人服务的医疗服务人员进行深入访谈，并笔录及分析访谈内容。
结果: 访谈内容包括四个主题:（1）中国大陆移民特殊的精神健康问题;（2）其中出现精神健康问题的最易感人群;（3）妨碍其获得精神卫生服务的因素;（4）社会支持网络对其精神健康的重要性。
结论: 通过对高收入国家中为数目日益增长的华人提供精神健康服务的专业人员的定性研究，找出需要提高文化敏感度的地方，以此促进中国大陆移民接受精神卫生服务，提高服务的效率。