Critical Review: Ethnic Differences in Mental Health in Canada

This assignment presents a critical review of a research article focusing on ethnic differences in mental health status and service utilization among White, Chinese, South Asian, and African immigrant residents in Ontario, Canada. The review highlights the study's findings, which indicate variations in self-reported mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and mental health service use across different ethnic groups. It also addresses the limitations of the study, including the pooling approach used for sampling, reliance on self-reported data potentially influenced by cultural differences, limited questions in the CCHS, and the restriction of results to Ontario, which limits the generalizability of the study. The review emphasizes the need for further research to understand and address the barriers contributing to the unmet mental health needs of ethnic communities.

Running head: CRITICAL REVIEW
Critical review
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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CRITICAL REVIEW
Table of Contents
Part 1:.........................................................................................................................................2
Part 2:.........................................................................................................................................2
References:.................................................................................................................................4

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CRITICAL REVIEW
Part 1:
Chiu, M., Amartey, A., Wang, X., & Kurdyak, P. (2018). Ethnic Differences in
Mental Health Status and Service Utilization: A Population-Based Study in Ontario,
Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 0706743717741061. DOI:
10.1177/0706743717741061
This study focuses on the predominance of the self-reported psychological health
factors, mental health care usage, and the unaddressed needs of the 4 major groups residing in
Canada. The sampling of the population had been done on the basis cross-sectional sample of
254951 white, Chinese, South Asian, and African immigrant residents that had been living in
Ontario, Canada, in between 2001 and 2014 (Chiu et al., 2016, p. 481). The results indicated
the fact that self-reported mood disorders and anxiety disorders that are diagnosed by
physicians and mental health service use had been extremely low in the South Asian, Black,
or Chinese respondents than white respondents. On a more elaborative note, the Chinese
respondents had reported the lowest sense of belonging with their community which also
reflected in the poorest self-rated mental health and prone to suicidality as well. Among the
group that had self-reported mental health, less than 50%exhibited help seeking behaviour
from a mental health professional, ranging from Chinese group exhibiting 19.8% to the white
group exhibiting 50.8% (Chiu et al., 2016, p. 481). Hence, the authors had concluded the fact
that the predominance of the mental health concerns and service use is diverse across the
different ethnic groups. Although there is need for better efforts to better understand the
factors and address the barriers that contribute to the high unmet needs of the ethnic
communities with respect to mental health and wellbeing (Chiu et al., 2016, p. 483).

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CRITICAL REVIEW
Part 2:
Although the study article that is being reviewed in the assignment represents a potent
qualitative research take, there are a number of issues that have been overlooked by the
researchers. First and foremost, it has to be mentioned in this context that the sampling done
for this research study had been based on the pooling approach. Although, no consideration
had not been done to sampling weights rescaling as described in Thomas and Wannell (Chiu
et al., 2016, p. 489). Another strong oversight in this case had been dependence on self-
reported data and the chance of the data being influenced by cultural differences. It has to be
mentioned that the questions asked in the CCHS were very limited. Lastly, results were
restricted to only Ontario which restricts the generalizability of the study (Chiu et al., 2016,
p.489).

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CRITICAL REVIEW
References:
Chiu, M., Amartey, A., Wang, X., & Kurdyak, P. (2018). Ethnic Differences in Mental
Health Status and Service Utilization: A Population-Based Study in Ontario,
Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 0706743717741061. DOI:
10.1177/0706743717741061