An exploratory analysis of utilization patterns of Vietnamese, Chinese and Asian-Indian Americans in a Texas county mental health service agency

It has been well documented that Asian Pacific Americans on average tend to underutilize mental health services. Asian American subpopulations have often been combined as a single ethnic category in research, and were compared to the larger Anglo population as a comparison group. As a result, potentially important within Asian group differences may be overlooked. This exploratory study compared three Asian American ethnic subgroups with regards to utilization rates, diagnosis, resource usage, and average lengths of treatment within a county mental health agency in the greater Houston area. The archival data set from the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County (MHMRA) included 398 Vietnamese, 136 Asian Indian, and 121 self-identified Chinese Americans who utilized mental health services from 1993--1999. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, cross-tabs, and chi-square analyses were used. This study did reveal differences among the three groups in terms of overall utilization. Comparing the observed rates of utilization with the actual number in the population, a one-way ChiSquare test revealed differences between the two frequencies. In particular, the data revealed that Vietnamese clients were more likely to over utilize mental health services than Asian Indian and Chinese clients. This study also found that for each of the three Asian ethnic groups, men outnumbered women in terms of service utilization. Of the three major diagnoses, depression was most prevalent for the three Asian ethic groups in the study. Schizophrenia equaled depression for the most prevalent disorder in the Asian Indian cohort. This study also found that Asian Indians and Chinese clients had greater outpatient episodes as compared to inpatient episodes. In contrast, Vietnamese client utilized both types of services roughly equally. Comparing the three Asian groups as a whole, the greatest average length of treatment was exhibited by the Chinese clients, followed by Vietnamese and Asian Indians. The study also found that the average outpatient episode lengths were far greater than the average inpatient episode for each ethnic group. Interpretations of the results, limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for future research were discussed.