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Role of Cultural Beliefs, Religion, and Spirituality in Mental Health and/or Service Utilization among Immigrants in Canada: A Scoping Review

Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
15 October 2015

Abstract

This paper uses Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework for conducting scoping reviews to examine 25 years of Canadian literature to understand the importance of cultural beliefs, religion, and spirituality in the context of immigrant mental health and/or service utilization. A review of 24 selected articles revealed 4 broad areas relative to the role of religion, spirituality, and culture in these contexts. Based on the findings the authors suggest that in increasingly diverse societies like Canada there is an urgent need for mental health professionals to take into account in their practice their service users’ cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs.

Résumé

Cet article utilise le cadre d'examen de la portée d'Arksey et O'Malley (2005) pour résumer 25 années de la littérature canadienne afin de comprendre l'importance des croyances culturelles, de la religion et de la spiritualité dans le contexte de la santé mentale et/ou de l'utilisation des services par les immigrants et immigrantes. Un examen de 24 articles a révélé 4 grands domaines relatifs au rôle de la religion, de la spiritualité et de la culture dans le contexte de la santé mentale des immigrants et immigrantes. Sur la base des résultats, les auteures suggèrent que dans des sociétés de plus en plus diverses telles que le Canada, les professionnels et professionnelles de la santé mentale doivent urgemment prendre en compte les croyances culturelles, religieuses et spirituelles de leurs utilisateurs et utilisatrices de services dans leur pratique.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

cover image Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 34Number 3November 2015
Pages: 87 - 101

History

Version of record online: 15 October 2015

Key Words

  1. mental health
  2. culture
  3. religion
  4. spirituality
  5. immigrants
  6. Canada

Mots-clés

  1. santé mentale
  2. culture
  3. religion
  4. spiritualité
  5. immigrants et immigrantes
  6. Canada

Authors

Affiliations

Mary Susan Thomson
Usha George
Sepali Guruge

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1. Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, Mental Health Service Use, and Cultural Perspectives Among Ethnically Diverse University Students

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