Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan 29;25(1):359.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21615-9.

Help-seeking for depression among Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan and factors related to their intentions to seek help from a psychiatrist: a cross-sectional study

Yui Fukuda  1 , Atsuko Taguchi  2 , Akane Futami  3 , Yusuke Umegaki  4 , Pham Nguyen Quy  5 , Toshihiko Nakajima  6   7   8 , Akihito Uezato  9
Affiliations

Help-seeking for depression among Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan and factors related to their intentions to seek help from a psychiatrist: a cross-sectional study

Yui Fukuda et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Foreign workers are at risk for depression, and Vietnamese people tend to be reluctant to seek professional mental health care. Although Vietnamese people are the largest population among foreign workers in Japan, evidence concerning their help-seeking experiences and strategies to promote help-seeking in this population is lacking. This study aimed to identify the percentage of Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan who have sought help from healthcare professionals for depressive symptoms and to explore the factors related to their intentions to seek help from a psychiatrist.

Methods: An online questionnaire was administered to Vietnamese migrants working in Japan from October 5, 2021, to November 1, 2021. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores were calculated to measure the severity of the respondents' depression. Help-seeking experiences related to depressive symptoms were also investigated. The General Help-Seeking Questionnaire Vignette Version (GHSQ-V) was modified and adapted to measure the respondents' intention to seek help from a psychiatrist for depressive symptoms. To investigate the factors related to help-seeking intention, potential factors were selected from literature reviews and discussions with professionals in the field. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted.

Results: A total of 803 eligible data points were collected. Among the 53.5% of participants who scored 10 or more on the PHQ-9, 4.4% had sought help from a healthcare professional in Japan. A lower preference for coping on one's own, greater recognition of the effectiveness of help, greater ability to make work adjustments, and a higher level of Japanese language proficiency were related to greater intentions to seek help from a psychiatrist.

Conclusions: Many Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan are unable to seek help from healthcare professionals for depressive symptoms. It may be beneficial to acknowledge not only linguistic barriers but also other related factors when planning strategies to enhance Vietnamese migrant workers' intentions to seek help from psychiatrists.

Keywords: Depression; Help seeking; Japan; Vietnamese migrant workers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study protocol was approved by the ethical review board of Keio University Graduate School of Health Management (No. 2021–12). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of depression among migrants in Japan and Vietnamese migrants in other countries
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chisholm D, Sweeny K, Sheehan P, Rasmussen B, Smit F, Cuijpers P, et al. Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: a global return on investment analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016;3:415–24. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2017.
    1. Virupaksha H, Nirmala B, Kumar A. Migration and mental health: an interface. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2014;5:233–9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hasan SI, Yee A, Rinaldi A, Azham AA, MohdHairi F, AmerNordin AS. Prevalence of common mental health issues among migrant workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2021;16:e0260221. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. Gaikokujin koyou jyoukyou no todokede jyoukyou matome (reiwa 5nen 10gatsumatsu jiten) [Employment situation of Foreigners (end of October, 2023)]. 2024. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_37084.html. Accessed 12 Aug 2024.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources