{"title":"Ethnicity, Language Capacity, and Perception of Ethnic-Specific Services Agencies in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities","authors":"J. Chow, P. Wyatt","doi":"10.1300/J191v01n03_03","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examined (1) the ethnicity and language similarity between professional staff and service users, and (2) client satisfaction in ethnic-specific services (ESS) agencies serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). A combined method of agency survey and focus groups was used to collect the data. Findings indicate that ESS served a diverse AAPI population, although some ethnic and language sub-groups remain to be under served. Service users clearly prefer ESS, which is associated with a higher level of trust than mainstream services. However, staff simply sharing similar language or ethnic background does not automatically warrant trust. Trust is developed through a sense of respect that staff demonstrates within a cultural context. The feeling of trust is likely to determine AAPI clients' commitment to remain in treatment, a prior condition for achieving any desirable outcome.","PeriodicalId":235181,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Services","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2003-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Services","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1300/J191v01n03_03","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
Abstract This study examined (1) the ethnicity and language similarity between professional staff and service users, and (2) client satisfaction in ethnic-specific services (ESS) agencies serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). A combined method of agency survey and focus groups was used to collect the data. Findings indicate that ESS served a diverse AAPI population, although some ethnic and language sub-groups remain to be under served. Service users clearly prefer ESS, which is associated with a higher level of trust than mainstream services. However, staff simply sharing similar language or ethnic background does not automatically warrant trust. Trust is developed through a sense of respect that staff demonstrates within a cultural context. The feeling of trust is likely to determine AAPI clients' commitment to remain in treatment, a prior condition for achieving any desirable outcome.