The Family-School-Primary Care Triangle and the Access to Mental Health Care Among Migrant and Ethnic Minorities

Understanding the concepts of mental health and help seeking behaviours of migrant and ethnic minority families constitutes
an important step toward improving the intercultural competence of health and education professionals. This paper addresses
these goals among ethnic and migrant minorities in Portugal. For this a multi-informant approach was selected. The study involved
nine focus groups (N = 39) conducted with different samples: young immigrants (12–17 years), immigrant parents, teachers and
health professionals. The results showed similarities and differences in concepts of mental health, as well as help seeking
processes. Stigma continued to be recognized as a barrier in the access to mental health care. The paper argues that providing
adequate training on mental health on cultural diversity competencies to health and education professionals can contribute
to a better inter-communication and -relation system in the family-school-primary care triangle and thus facilitate access
to mental health care for youth.