ABSTRACT
AIM: Little is known about the experiences of ethnic Chinese accessing mental health services in Aotearoa New Zealand, resulting in uncertainty around their service preferences, and facilitators or barriers to their mental health help-seeking. This paper investigated the experiences of providers of specific mental health services for ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa, their opinions regarding their patients' experience, and their suggestions to improve the system. METHOD: Sixteen health professionals with experience and expertise delivering mental health services for ethnic Chinese were interviewed at 12 organisations across Aotearoa. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using general inductive methods and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Practitioners' experiences revolved heavily around cultural brokerage, which is vital for culturally appropriate care, but this is time-consuming and receives little formal support. Practitioners thought the patient experience was inadequate, with a lack of language and culturally appropriate services leading to delays in help-seeking. Practitioners' suggestions for system improvement included increasing resourcing for research, and for expanding the availability of language and culturally appropriate services. CONCLUSION: Current mental health service provision is inadequate for ethnic Chinese seeking help in Aotearoa, and is causing harm by delaying mental health help-seeking. Decisive Government leadership and deeper collaboration between non-Government organisations (NGOs) will be key to improving mental health service accessibility and outcomes.
ABSTRACT
A significant number of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic patients have developed chronic symptoms lasting weeks or months which are very similar to those described for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. This study reviews the current literature and understanding of the role that mitochondria, oxidative stress and antioxidants may play in the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of chronic fatigue. It describes what is known about the dysfunctional pathways which can develop in mitochondria and their relationship to chronic fatigue. It also reviews what is known about oxidative stress and how this can be related to the pathophysiology of fatigue, as well as examining the potential for specific therapy directed at mitochondria for the treatment of chronic fatigue in the form of antioxidants. This study identifies areas which require urgent, further research in order to fully elucidate the clinical and therapeutic potential of these approaches.