title: When Asian immigrant women speak: from mental health to strategies of being.
abstract: Immigrant women from 5 ethnic-cultural communities (Korean, Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada participated in a focus group study (13 focus groups of 102 participants) of Asian immigrant women's conceptions of mental health. Their responses challenge the predominant conceptualizations of mental health in North America, the popular characterization of Asian culture as collectivistic, and the stereotypic image of Asian women as defining themselves in family relations. In trying to live a life they desire and to quest for a better state of well-being, these women have asserted their agency to articulate multiple strategies of being.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. rylwong@yorku.ca.
authors.forename: Yuk-Lin Renita
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: A Ka Tat
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tsang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D009864:Ontario; D013240:Stereotyping