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What are the personal and cultural criteria of Indo-Canadian women in deciding to seek counselling help? McLellan, Marla

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the decision-making process of Indo-Canadian women in seeking counselling help. Little research regarding help-seeking behaviours and attitudes of minority groups has been done in the area of counselling psychology. Even less attention has been given to the Indo-Canadian community. The aim of this study was to contribute to existing research through a contextual understanding of the influences on an Indo-Canadian woman whe/n faced with the decision to pursue counselling help. It was further intended to provide mental health services with information on ways of encouraging this cultural group to utilize the available help resources. This study used narrative and multiple case study methodology. Seven Indo-Canadian women, all having previously used mental health services, were interviewed. Interviews were then transcribed, and 'straightened' into individual narratives based on the unique story of each participant. Factors of hindrance and facilitation with regard to help-seeking were extracted from the narratives and then analyzed for commonalities. The transcripts and narratives were validated by an external examiner to ensure freedom from distortion and bias. Five of the seven stories along with the factors of hindrance and facilitation were further validated by the respective participants. In addition, an abstract story was constructed from the individual accounts. Findings extended the research through the identification of facilitating factors in the decision-making process of Indo-Canadian women in seeking counselling.

Item Metadata

Title	What are the personal and cultural criteria of Indo-Canadian women in deciding to seek counselling help?
Creator	McLellan, Marla
Publisher	University of British Columbia
Date Issued	1998
Description	The purpose of this study was to explore the decision-making process of Indo-Canadian women in seeking counselling help. Little research regarding help-seeking behaviours and attitudes of minority groups has been done in the area of counselling psychology. Even less attention has been given to the Indo-Canadian community. The aim of this study was to contribute to existing research through a contextual understanding of the influences on an Indo-Canadian woman whe/n faced with the decision to pursue counselling help. It was further intended to provide mental health services with information on ways of encouraging this cultural group to utilize the available help resources. This study used narrative and multiple case study methodology. Seven Indo-Canadian women, all having previously used mental health services, were interviewed. Interviews were then transcribed, and 'straightened' into individual narratives based on the unique story of each participant. Factors of hindrance and facilitation with regard to help-seeking were extracted from the narratives and then analyzed for commonalities. The transcripts and narratives were validated by an external examiner to ensure freedom from distortion and bias. Five of the seven stories along with the factors of hindrance and facilitation were further validated by the respective participants. In addition, an abstract story was constructed from the individual accounts. Findings extended the research through the identification of facilitating factors in the decision-making process of Indo-Canadian women in seeking counselling.
Extent	7145225 bytes
Genre	Thesis/Dissertation
Type	Text
File Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
Date Available	2009-05-27
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
DOI	10.14288/1.0053961
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8326
Degree	Master of Arts - MA
Program	Counselling Psychology
Affiliation	Education, Faculty of; Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Degree Grantor	University of British Columbia
Graduation Date	1998-11
Campus	UBCV
Scholarly Level	Graduate
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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ubc_1998-0540.pdf -- 6.81MB

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Rights

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.