Analyzing Focus Group Findings
Focused groups have become common in the past years as they provide one with opinions on a particular subject within a short period and encourage participants to debate their views with each other. Analyzing focus group data requires excellent judgment and data just like any different scientific approach, regardless of whether the analysis depends on qualitative or quantitative behaviors. During the examination, several barriers are involved during the implementing process. There are many kinds of research qualitative methodology types, including interviews and case studies, but for week five handout: Content Analysis of Focus Groups, the class selected was focus groups transcription whose primary purpose was to describe the approach taken for theming the transcripts and writing the findings of the Asian American .
Themes Identified
Issues that were found under the following themes were identified, described, and analyzed. The problems included patient-related issues, service provider-linked barriers, systemic barriers, professional medical or psychiatric culture, and miscellaneous ones.
1. Patient-related barriers
a) Social Stigma and how it’s related to financial instability
Most of the patient’s feared going to the hospital due to the social stigma they would experience from the psychiatrists, as most of them who had mental illnesses were not financially stable and thus could not pay extra fees for psychiatry. Both the Asians and the Chinese did not believe in mental health as they were never willing to trust or opening up. Whenever they would come to see the health provider, the first option of visiting a western doctor failed and why they had to seek the subsequent opinion. Unlike those who just saw the doctor immediately without seeking other options first, they are hard to be convinced (Knight et al., 2014).
2. Service provider-linked barriers.
Service providers find it hard to work with the Chinese as they do not easily open up or trust someone with their health. Most health providers struggle with the skills they own to try to be great primary health providers and get better skills for their population. When a western patient visits the hospital, they are reluctant to enter into the right places so that they can be attended to because they are never sure if involving themselves in that behavior is correct in accordance to their culture (Knight et al., 2014). There are several cultural assumptions that people use without even knowing why they engaged in a particular situation in the way they did.
My data analysis is that patient’s financial instability is a barrier that hinders the implementation of services linked to mental health services in the Asian American community. This is because most mentally ill patients fear going to the hospital. After all, they do not have the incentives to give to the psychiatrists to receive the best of care. Another barrier is patient ignorance as most of the Asian American community still believes in western doctors for treatment as most are not yet civilized. Lack of equal provision of health services to mental illness patients is another barrier as most health providers want incentives to get to do their work well.
Social work recommendations
Social workers may address issues of social stigma by accepting and identifying personal biases and values. They might also work with their clients regarding stigma problems by providing treatment, outreach efforts, and triage roles (Ahmedani, 2011). The social workers should go to Asian American communities and educate them on the importance of ringing one earlier to the hospital when they suspect they have a mental illness. They should talk to them about the advantages modern medicine has to the traditional one. Ignorance of waiting until one gets worse to bring them to the hospital should be stopped. If these barriers are addressed, then implementing mental services in the Asian American community will be easier and help kick diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
I would collaborate with service providers and members to make sure that the above data is interpreted accurately. I would first understand the community’s cultures well so that whatever change is to be placed won’t affect their beliefs, thus cause the members of the community not to come to the hospital. I would then try to understand the community’s social status so that whatever services will be offered won’t be too expensive. I will ensure that the difference between causation, coincidence, and correlation of the data at hand has been thoroughly checked into. All the factors that may have led to the results will be considered. All the data will be coded to bring the accuracy of what was found. As per my culture, many people do not get mental health services from the hospital as they believe the health providers do not give them the attention they need because they think they are harmful to society. They feel that they are not even supported by the community itself thus; they get to be stressed and even have thoughts of committing suicide. They also believe that they cannot go to the hospital and be treated by other health providers who are not from their race (Lee, 2016). The specific cultural knowledge required to conduct culturally sensitive research will include knowing artistic copying styles that might enable the community to change their attitude regarding the issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many cultures have influences on mental illness, including how patients manifest their symptoms. The health care provider’s culture also affects diagnosis service delivery and treatment of the patient. Mental disorders can be found in any population, regardless of ethnicity or race. Stigma is among the barriers that hinder the patients from seeking help from health providers. The attitudes linked to mental illness are also a barrier as people get to fear what they will be thought of when they go to the hospital. Mistrust of the services provided for mental health is also why mentally ill patients aren’t getting treatment.
References
Ahmedani, B. K. (2011). Mental health stigma: society, individuals, and the profession. of social work values and ethics, 8(2), 4-1.
Knight, K. R., Lopez, A. M., Comfort, M., Shumway, M., Cohen, J., & Riley, E. D. (2014). Single room occupancy (SRO) hotels as mental health risk environments among impoverished women: the intersection of policy, drug use, trauma, and urban space. International Journal of Drug Policy, 25(3), 556-561.
Lee, M. Y., Wang, X. I. A. F. E. I., Cao, Y. I. W. E. N., Liu, C. H. A. N. G., & Zaharlick, A. (2016). Creating a culturally competent research agenda. Strategies for deconstructing racism in the health and human services, 51-66.
