Understanding Korean Americans Mental Health: A Guide to Culturally Competent Practices, Program Developments, and Policies

(Hardback)

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At nearly 1.9 million, the Korean American community is one of the major Asian ethnic subgroups in the United States. Though considered among one of the model minority groups, excelling academically and professionally, members in this community are plagued by unaddressed mental health obstacles. In Understanding Korean Americans' Mental Health: A Guide to Culturally Competent Practices, Program Developments, and Policies, the editors, Anderson Sungmin Yoon, Sung Seek Moon, and Haein Son, examine a variety of mental health issues in the Korean American community, including depression, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and trauma, and convincingly connect these challenges to cultural stigma and racial prejudice.

The editors argue that this population and its mental health needs are, to varying degrees, neglected by current approaches in mainstream mental health services. Alarmingly, the very cultural values and attitudes that help make up the Korean American community are contributing to its members reluctance to seek care, counting both familial and communal shame among the most pressing culprits. This book supports these claims with statistical realities and seeks to gather the relatively scarce research that does exist on this topic to underscore the heightened prevalence of mental health issues and related symptoms among Korean Americans, and the contributors make recommendations for more culturally competent practices, program developments, and policies.

Reviews

Considering the intensifying racial conflicts and drastic increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, this collection of empirical and clinical studies of mental health problems and suicide in a fast-growing Asian American community is much needed and timely. Comprehensive in coverage, this volume discusses diverse cultural and social factors that are pivotal in developing prevention strategies and cultural competence in offering professional mental health care for Korean and other Asian American communities.

This scholarly compilation on Korean American mental health adds considerably to the existing literature on Asian American health and health disparities. The editors organize the work into two broad categories: part 1, "Life Development," includes articles related to different stages of the life course. Chapters in part 2, "Life Circumstances," address specific mental health conditions and scenarios.... This book will be of strongest interest to professionals working in public health and multicultural health fields and scholars of Asian American and Korean American studies. Contributed articles are written in a style and language accessible to lay readers, and the work may also be useful to community health practitioners working in cities and regions with significant Korean American populations. Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

Author Bio

Anderson Sungmin Yoon is assistant professor of social work at Nyack College.

Sung Seek Moon is the Carl and Martha Lindner Endowed Chair for Global Studies at Baylor University.

Haein Son is a licensed clinical social worker and a credential alcoholism and substance abuse counselor.