Twelve-month prevalence, severity, and treatment contact of mental disorders in New Zealand born and migrant Pacific participants in Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in 12-month prevalences of mental disorders and 12-month treatment contact among New Zealand born and migrants in separate ethnic groups in Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey (NZMHS).

DATA: The NZMHS is a nationally representative face-to-face household survey, carried out in 2003-2004 with a response rate of 73.3%. It surveyed 12,992 New Zealand adults aged 16 and over Pacific people were over sampled This paper focuses on the 2374 Pacific participants but includes for comparison 8160 non-Maori-non-Pacific participants (Others).

METHOD: Multiple logistic regression models were used to produce estimates weighted to account for diferent probabilities of selection and taking account of the complex survey design.

RESULTS: The prevalence of mental disorder was lowest among those who migrated as adults compared with those who migrated as young children (child migrants) or New Zealand-born (NZ born) migrant descendants in both Pacific and other ethnic groups. While Pacific people have higher rates of disorder than Others, many of the observed differences between Pacific and Others were explained by population differences in age and sex. Service use in the last 12 months by people with a disorder was low among Pacific peoples overall, but spec fically among older migrants. Older Pacific migrants with a disorder had particularly low use of specialist mental health services.

CONCLUSION: An interesting picture has emerged regarding need for and use of mental health services. The burden of mental disorder is highest while service use was lower among Pacflc peoples generally Those born in or who migrated as children to New Zealand had higher levels of disorder but were also more likely to use services than older migrants.