Master of Mental Health Science (Transcultural Mental Health)
This two-year full time research degree offers the opportunity for the student to undertake research training in the area of immigrant and refugee mental health or mental health in overseas populations. An important focus of the work is on the relationships between culture and mental health, including culture and psychopathology, attitudes towards mental illness, illness behaviour, pathways to care and adjustments to illness.
Domains of inquiry include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Population mental health in ethnically and culturally diverse communities.
- Mental health policy, at national and local levels, and the impact of non-health policy on mental health (such as the impact of immigration and welfare policies on the mental health of asylum seekers and refugees).
- Mental health systems: Examination of the accessibility and quality mental health services.
- The clinician-patient relationship in cross-cultural settings.
International mental health services research contributes to the knowledge base for the development of appropriate mental health care. Of special interest is a focus is on resource-poor and post-conflict settings.
Methodologies adopted in the course of the research for this degree may be qualitative, quantitative, or a combination of approaches. We particularly encourage and support the development of improved methodologies for examining mental health issues in the context of linguistic and socio-cultural diversity. Students requiring further development of research skills that are appropriate to this area of study are supported directly or they may take additional courses through the University of Melbourne in order to support their work.
Examples of recently completed theses include:
- The impact of Westernisation on parent-adolescent conflict in Indonesia.
- The concept of mental disorders, stigma and pathways to care in Somali refugees in Melbourne.
- Exposure to adversity, parenting styles and internalising and externalising syndromes in African Adolescents in South Africa (Port Elizabeth).
- The influence of cultural background on nurses - attitudes and practices in relation to mental illness.