Exploring Mental Health Distress, Demographics, and Service Utilization Patterns Among South Asian and Non-South Asian Youth Accessing Integrated Youth Services in British Columbia, Canada: Exploration de la détresse mentale, des données démographiques et des tendances d’utilisation des services chez les jeunes d’origine sud-asiatique et non sud-asiatique qui ont recours aux services intégrés pour les jeunes en Colombie-Britannique, au Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Objectives To understand the mental health distress, demographics and service utilization patterns among South Asian and non-South Asian youth accessing integrated youth services (IYS) in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods This study used data from youth accessing services at the BC-IYS (Foundry) between April 2018 and October 2023. Descriptive statistics summarized demographic and service utilization data, with categorical variables compared using chi-squared tests and continuous variables using t-tests. A linear regression model examined the relationship between ethnicity (South Asian vs. non-South Asian) and mental health distress measured by Kessler Distress Scale (K10), stratified by gender [cisgender and transgender and non-conforming (TGNC)]. Results The study included 30,016 youth, among whom 5.5% ( n = 1,652) were South Asian. South Asian youth had higher distress levels (Average K10 score: 32.1 vs. 31.3, P < 0.001) and lower mental health service utilization within the past year (57.1% vs. 48.4%) compared to non-south Asian youth. They were also more likely to use virtual services (30.2% vs. 19.4%). For gender, 94.5% of South Asian youth identified as cisgender and 5.1% as TGNC, compared to 14% TGNC in non-South Asians ( P < 0.001). Regression analyses showed a significant association between ethnicity and mental health distress. This was amplified within the TGNC strata for South Asian participants compared to non-South Asian youth ( B = 2.00, 95% CI, 0.35 to 3.66, P = 0.018). Younger age was associated with higher levels of mental health distress among South Asian youth in both gender strata: cisgender ( B = –0.07, 95% CI, –0.10 to −0.03, P < 0.001) and TGNC ( B = –0.14, 95% CI, –0.21 to −0.06, P < 0.001). Conclusion This study reveals that South Asian youth accessing services from the BC-IYS experience higher levels of mental distress compared to non-South Asian youth. The findings highlight the need for culturally sensitive mental health services, education and policies to improve outcomes for South Asian youth in BC. Plain Language Summary Title Understanding the Needs of South Asian Youth Accessing Integrated Youth Services in British Columbia, Canada
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".