Intended Date of Award

2024

Degree Name

Doctorate in Management and Public Service (DMPS)

Chair

Kristen Norman

Committee Member

Serena M. King

Second Committee Member

MayKao Y. Hang

Abstract

It has been nearly 50 years since Hmong refugees started arriving here in the United States, as a result of the Vietnam War. Currently, the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is home to the largest concentration of Hmong Americans here in the states, approximately 81,000 (Pew Research, 2019). Because of the war atrocities that many Hmong refugees experienced, scholars and researchers conducted diagnostic assessments during early resettlement, but the data was disaggregated and combined all Southeast Asian refugees together. This made it difficult to determine mental health needs among the different Southeast Asian ethnicities, specifically Hmong Americans. Many years later, the Wilder Foundation conducted an additional study in 2010 which yielded alarming results, which concluded that the Hmong were twice as likely, than the general public, to experience mental health issues and mental health symptoms are often internalized by some community members. Mental health concerns in the Hmong community have been sufficiently documented here in the United States but mental health literacy, reinforced by strong cultural stigma, still hinder understanding and acceptance. Systemic barriers and health inequity further complicate access to needed treatment and services. As a collectivistic culture, the onus is on community leaders to promote mental health awareness and reduce cultural stigma in the Hmong community. Exploratory in nature, this qualitative inquiry sought to examine the intersection of leadership and mental health literacy and cultural stigma in the Hmong community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Hmong community leaders in an attempt to identify challenges hindering mental health literacy and contributing to cultural stigma. Suggestions for addressing these challenges were also solicited. Grounded theory analysis of the data revealed three primary areas of challenges hindering mental health literacy and strengthening the cultural stigma: cultural factors, communication, and services. Additional areas that leaders should consider are: selecting competent leaders and alleviating intergenerational disagreement among the different generations of Hmong Americans. Until Hmong Americans can agree on uniform leadership when it comes to mental health literacy and cultural stigma, challenges will continue to persist.

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

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