Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 March 2018
Research on underutilization patterns of mental health services among older Chinese immigrants is limited, partly due to the absence of translated, psychometrically sound measures for assessing attitudes towards seeking help. In this study we interviewed 200 older Chinese Canadian immigrants using a translated version of the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services scale (IASMHS), and assessed mental health care utilization over the past 12 months and intentions to seek help. Confirmatory factor analysis failed to replicate the original three-factor structure; thus, we used exploratory factor analysis to create a 20-item Chinese version, the C-IASMHS. It had acceptable internal consistency and was positively correlated with intentions to seek help. The Help-Seeking Propensity subscale had the strongest psychometric properties whereas the Psychological Openness subscale performed poorly based on factor analysis results and unacceptable internal consistency. Future research should focus on the conceptual equivalence of psychological openness among Chinese older adults.
La recherche sur les profils de sous-utilisation des services de santé mentale chez les immigrants chinois plus âgés est en partie limitée par l’absence d’outils de mesures traduits et possédant une bonne fiabilité psychométrique pour évaluer les attitudes liées à la recherche d’aide. Dans cette étude, 200 immigrants sino-canadiens ont été interviewés avec une version traduite du IASMHS. Les mesures collectées comprennent l’utilisation de soins de santé mentale au cours des 12 derniers mois et décrivent les intentions de recherche d’aide. Des analyses factorielles confirmatoires n’ont pas répliqué la structure originale à trois facteurs, donc l’analyse factorielle exploratoire a été utilisée pour créer une version chinoise à 20 items, le C-IASMHS. Cette version a présenté une consistance interne acceptable et était positivement corrélée avec les intentions de recherche d’aide. La sous-échelle sur la propension à la recherche d’aide a présenté les plus fortes propriétés psychométriques, tandis que la sous-échelle sur l’ouverture psychologique a affiché de faibles résultats dans l’analyse factorielle et une consistance interne insatisfaisante. De plus amples recherches sur l’équivalence conceptuelle du construit de l’ouverture psychologique chez les adultes chinois plus âgés sont nécessaires.
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