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Transcultural Psychiatry
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Mental Health Needs Assessment in Australia’s Culturally Diverse Society

Ann Larson

Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and, Nutrition, University of Queensland, Australia

Ivan Frkovic

Marina van Kooten-Prasad

Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre, Queensland Health, Australia

Lenore Manderson

Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and, Nutrition, University of Queensland, Australia

Despite widespread political support for recognizing and addressing the special mental health needs of culturally and linguistically distinct communities, relatively little has been documented about the specific needs of these groups. State government units, community organizations and services tasked with implementing broad policies have very little information on which to formulate strategies. A review of the literature on needs reveals a tension between the ‘top-down’ definitions of what has been termed ‘thin’ needs – such as evidence of higher rates of mental health problems or lower rates of utilization, and ‘thick’ needs as felt by consumers and carers as they face specific problems. Both perspectives are necessary to develop effective and acceptable transcultural mental health strategies. The remainder of this article describes the framework and application of a methodology for community organisations and services to assess needs from diverse perspectives.

Key Words: needs assessment • social need • transcultural mental health

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 38, No. 3, 333-347 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/136346150103800304
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?