Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of this exploratory study of the mental health of Chinese women in Britain was to identify issues of cultural difference between the Chinese community and the health system in contemporary Britain, which may have resulted in an under-estimation of their mental health problems. Statistics showed that as a group the Chinese used hospital and GP services less than other ethnic groups, possibly because they were all extremely healthy or that the existing services were failing them. Some circumstances of Chinese women's migration, employment and family lives were very similar to those of South Asian (Indian and Pakistani) women, whose unhappiness might have been under-estimated when they have been assessed using the standard medical approach. The specific objectives of this study were to examine competing explanations for Chinese women's under-representation as users of primary and secondary health services with particular reference to mental health; to consider the possible barriers to the use of western mental health services, including cultural specificities in the expression of mental distress, stigma, the use of traditional Chinese medicine and of informal support networks; to assist the development of culturally appropriate measures of mental health; to feed back the findings so as to influence the delivery of mental health services and to inform relevant academic debates.

Main Topics:

Forty-two Chinese women living in Essex and East London were interviewed, including 24 who had been depressed or otherwise psychologically distressed, and 18 who had not had this type of problem. The interviews focused in particular on how their experiences had affected their health, and their family lives and what help they had sought as a result.

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview

These in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the language of the interviewee's choi