Community Engagement to Improve Mental Health Access for Chinese Immigrant Youths: A Social-Ecological Approach

Overview: Designing and implementing community interventions with a social-ecological model provide promising evidence for improving mental health access for Chinese immigrant students and English learners (ELs) with trauma & depression in San Francisco.Proposal text: Chinese immigrant students and English learners (ELs) with trauma & depression in San Francisco have limited access to mental health services at schools. Because of the significance of school community in the life of Chinese immigrant youths, community interventions with a social-ecological model might be a wise choice to help understand their mental health holistically and design interventions purposefully. Many of the approaches currently focus on individual-level behavior change. This study suggests a joint effort to formulate effective health promotions at four interrelated levels: individual, interpersonal, community, and society. The tailored interventions at each level include (1) Trauma-focused CBT for youth to enhance individual resilience, (2) CBITS focus group to improve interpersonal relationships, (3) coordinated care & social-emotional learning to explore community cohesion, and (4) mental health policy and providers adjustment in broader society. The interventions created are based on youths’ personal experience, key stakeholders’ input, community strengths, evidence-based programs, and a scoping review. Also, community engagement principles, social work grand challenges, cultural humility, Christian community engagement strategies for developing interventions for this population are discussed.

Conclusion: a social-ecological model with multilayered intervention provides the most reliable therapeutic benefits for improving mental health access for Chinese immigrant English learners with trauma & depression. Future study will concentrate on improving the effectiveness and delivery of these interventions by considering immigrant children's asset-based development, social neuroscience, and faith-based initiatives to accelerate positive changes.