How young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience mental health: some insights for mental health nurses

How young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience mental health: some insights for mental health nurses

This article reports on a part of a study which looked at the mental health of
culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young people. The research sought to learn
from CALD young people, carers, and service providers experiences relevant to the
mental health of this group of young people. The ultimate goal was to gain insights that
would inform government policy, service providers, ethnic communities and most
importantly the young people themselves. To this end, qualitative interviews were
undertaken with 123 CALD young people, 41 carers and 14 mental health service
providers in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.
Only one aspect of the study will be dealt with here, namely the views of the
young CALD participants, which included risk factors, coping strategies and
recommendations about how they could be supported in their struggle to maintain
mental health. One of the most important findings of the study relates to the resilience
of these young people and an insight into the strategies that they used to cope. The
efforts of these young people to assist us in our attempts to understand their situation
deserve to be rewarded by improvements in the care that we provide. To this end this
article sets out to inform mental health nurses of the results of the study so that they will
be in a position to better understand the needs and strengths of their CALD clients and
be in a better position to work effectively with them.

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