How the pandemic affected Filipinx Americans: Analysis on enculturation levels, health care work, and mental health outcomes.

What is it about?

Filipinx Americans represent 1% of the US population, yet were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. National data did not reflect this COVID rates of infection and death. This paper hopes that the findings will lead to advocacy work in data disaggregation for Asian Americans and the development of public health policies to address mental health concerns for this population.

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Photo by Hannah Xu on Unsplash

Photo by Hannah Xu on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Research shows that Filipinx Americans are less likely to seek out mental health services compared to other Asian American groups due to various factors including levels of enculturation and stigma. Yet, data on the FilAm community is often aggregated with other Asian American subgroups, often suggesting that the AAPI population as a whole is doing well mentally and physically. This lack of disaggregated data as well as the continued use of conventional Western approaches to mental health prevents us from properly addressing the health disparities for this population. This study is addresses these issues.