UIC School of Public Health
2005 Sponsored Activities Annual Report

STUDENT PROFILE

Michelle Choi
Community Health Sciences

I am a DrPH candidate in the Community Health Sciences Division. As an undergraduate, I majored in psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I later became a registered nurse and received a master’s degree in public health nursing as the next step in pursuing a life of service to underserved communities. I undertook a doctoral education at the UIC School of Public Health in order to learn how to apply theory and research to public health practice.

I was a recipient of the first issuance of the Sharon Davies Memorial Award presented by Freedom From Fear, a national not-for-profit, mental health advocacy association. The purpose of this nationally competitive award is to encourage original and innovative mental health research. My grant of $10,000 supported my dissertation research on the influence of immigration and acculturation on mental health among Korean American immigrant women. The purpose of my study was to identify barriers to seeking mental health services among Korean immigrant women using a design that included focus groups and a questionnaire that was completed by married Korean immigrant women living in the Chicago metropolitan area. The survey included measures on cultural, predisposing, enabling, and psychosocial factors affecting intention to seek mental health services.

Regression analyses were conducted to identify key predictor variables of perceived need for mental health services and intention to seek mental health services. Korean identification, Korean language proficiency, previous experiences with mental health services, perceived mental health status, and perceived need for mental health services were significant multivariate predictors of intention to seek mental health services. Concern about shame was a significant mediator of the relationship between perceived need and intention to seek mental health services. Findings suggest a need for outreach among Korean immigrant women who may have few financial and social resources. Practitioners and researchers need to be sensitive to reports of perceived stress, even if depression and somatization are not apparent.

A qualitative and quantitative inquiry is needed to understand perceptions of mental health problems, symptomatology, and the barriers to seeking mental health services among Korean American immigrant women. This study’s findings will help to direct health care providers towards target subgroups, points of intervention, and types of support needed to assist them.

Copyright 2005 Contact jckong@uic.edu for questions