Applying public health frameworks to advance the promotion of mental health among Asian American children

Asian American (ASA) children experience high rates of mental health problems. Although there is a pressing need to utilize population approaches, emerging frameworks from the fields of public and population health have not been applied to ASA children. This article addresses this gap by first discussing applications of the national prevention strategy (NPS), a population strategy developed from the social determinants of health perspective, to guide ASA prevention work. Next, we provide a practical example to illustrate how the NPS can be applied to prevention program design (using ParentCorps as an example) and dissemination and implementation processes to broadly address ASA children’s mental health needs. Finally, we present preliminary data on the feasibility of applying this population strategy to ASA families and a framework for researchers who are considering disseminating and implementing evidence-based programs to ASA or ethnic minority pediatric populations.