Stress and mental illness amongst Samoan adults (16+) living in New Zealand: measuring levels of psychological distress and mental illnesses and exploring medical and non-medical treatment preferences.
| dc.contributor.author | Mene-Vaele, Peati | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2017-11-27T19:58:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2017-11-27T19:58:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The current study looked at levels of stress, psychological distress and rates of mental health difficulties among Samoan adults aged 16+ living in New Zealand, and explored their preferences for medical and non-medical treatments. Stress measures used were based on notions of fa’aSamoa (Samoan worldviews) with four main themes: Relationship Stress (RS), Financial Stress (FS), Student’s Academic Stress (SAS) and Parent’s Stress for the Children’s Education (PSCE). An online survey was completed by 438 participants. Findings indicated that 25.8% (N = 96) of participants experienced high-very high levels of psychological distress in the past four weeks, and 17.2% (N = 58) of participants reported experiencing mental health difficulties in the past 12 months. High levels of stress were significantly associated with high levels of psychological distress for all four measures: RS = F(2, 138.175) = 58.0, p<.001; FS = F(2, 369) = 10.38, p<.001; SAS = F(2, 42.39) = 20.36, p<.001; PSCE = F(2, 112.68) = 8.25, p<.001. As expected high levels of psychological distress were related to reported experiences of a mental health difficulty F(2, 334) = 34.16, p<.001. Relationship Stress was also significantly related to reported experiences of a mental health difficulty t(334) = -6.03, p<.001. For participants who experienced a mental health difficulty in the past 12 months, a total of 74.1% (N = 45) accessed both medical (29.31%) and non-medical (25.86%) forms of treatment. Participants who did not experience a mental health difficulty (72.2%) (N = 200) showed a preference for a combination of both medical and non-medical treatments. Overall, almost all participants accepted the use of macronutrients as an alternative treatment for stress and mental health difficulties (98.3%) (N = 297). | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14666 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/7259 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of Canterbury | en |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/theses | en |
| dc.title | Stress and mental illness amongst Samoan adults (16+) living in New Zealand: measuring levels of psychological distress and mental illnesses and exploring medical and non-medical treatment preferences. | en |
| dc.type | Theses / Dissertations | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Canterbury | en |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
| uc.bibnumber | 2578218 | en |
| uc.college | Faculty of Science | en |