1Depression through Chinese eyes and the implications for Australian multicultural health policy

Chinese living in Sydney represent Australia’s largest-growing non-English speaking group. This study seeks to explore the dance between culture and depression. A combined qualitative and quantitative methodology by survey and focus groups enabled comparison of Australian and Chinese groups while exploring meaning. Self-nominated symptoms of depression by survey informants showed close resemblance between Chinese and Australians except for some idiomatic expressions that reflected cultural salience. Inspection of qualitative data indicated substantial differences between the Chinese and Australian at the conceptual level of what ‘depressive experience ’ is; how to make sense of it, when medical or professional help is warranted and how to seek help. The two methods compliment each other in unfolding the complex relationship between culture and depression. The emotional experiences of the Chinese living in Western society like Sydney provide good empirical basis for this purpose. From the quantitative data, we learnt that overseas-born Chinese and Australians experienced similar symptoms but used different help-seeking strategies. Qualitative data illuminated what were the reasons and decision making process involved. Chinese who were born in Australia o