Digital Mental Health for Asian Immigrant Youth in Canada
Team Members: Rui Hou, Josephine Wong, Kennith Fung, Alan Li, Minhui Yang, Micheal Butac, Xiao Hu, Charlie Sun
Currently, I am leading an interdisciplinary project, “Culturally Safe and Accessible Digital Mental Health Interventions for Newcomer Youth in Canada’s Asian Diasporic Communities”, funded by a CIHR Planning and Dissemination grant, which brings together mental health practitioners, decision-makers, Asian immigrant youth leaders and community stakeholders to dialogue and prioritize strategies that ensure access to effective and culturally safe digital mental health care among East, Southeast and South Asian immigrant youth in Ontario.
The Use of Communication Apps with Immigrant Seniors in Long-Term Care Homes
Team Members: Josephine Wong, Rosanra Yoon, Mabel Ho, Rui Hou, Leinic Chung-Lee, Abdolreza Akbarian, Abdul-Fatawu Abdulai, Vess Stamenova, and Anoushka Anoushka
First language care is critical for older immigrant adults with limited English proficiency, especially in long-term care settings where most residents require staff assistance and experience complex chronic conditions, resulting in multiple communication interactions where language poses a barrier. Although there are a myriad of cultural-language translation apps and devices available, there is a gap in both research and practice on the acceptability and feasibility of these digital resources within the context of long-term care and community settings for older immigrant adults, from a cultural relevance and digital health equity perspective. Our project aims to explore the state of the literature on the extent to which cultural-language translation apps are used in long-term care settings and community-based elder care. We will also examine the extent to which such apps bridge or further gaps in equitable, accessible, and acceptable care for older immigrant adults with limited English language proficiency. This is an exploratory study with the aim of generating sufficient preliminary knowledge to inform the design of a multiphase intervention study across Canada
Dr. Rui Hou 