Mental Health and Mental Healthcare Utilization in Canada's Immigrant and Ethnocultural Populations

One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness or addiction during their lifetime, but only 50% of those with a current diagnosis of mental illness will actually seek care (Lesage et al., 2006). Canada is home to growing immigrant and ethnocultural populations. Factors of migration, ethnicity, and racialization are important social determinants of mental health. However, Canada’s Mental Health Strategy identifies the lack of information available on these diverse populations and calls for further research in order to develop mental health programming (Mental Health Commission, 2012). This three-part doctoral dissertation sought to address these research gaps at the national-level, provincial-level, and community-level. The first study, “South Asian Populations in Canada: Migration and Mental Health,” was a national-level epidemiological analysis, which examined the prevalence and characteristics of mental health outcomes for South Asian immigrant populations in Canada compared to their South Asian Canadian-born counterparts. The second study, “The Epidemiology of Mental Healthcare Utilization by Service Provider Type for Ontario’s Immigrant Populations,” was a provincial-level epidemiological analysis examining the prevalence and characteristics of past-year mental health consultation by service provider type for Ontario’s immigrant populations. Lastly the third study, “The Barriers and Promoters of Seeking Mental Healthcare: A Mixed Methods Study of Bangladeshi Populations in Toronto,” was a community-level mixed methods project investigating the barriers and promoters of seeking mental healthcare identified by Toronto Bangladeshi newcomer and longer-term immigrant populations. These three studies seek to address the knowledge and research gaps identified by Canada’s Mental Health Strategy (Mental Health Commission, 2012). This research provides important information on the mental health outcomes, mental health service utilization, and barriers and promoters of mental healthcare access for immigrant and ethnocultural populations in order to inform the development of a mental health system inclusive of Canada’s diverse populations.