I used a qualitative approach to explore the sociocultural factors influencing the pattern of the help-seeking pathway of
Chinese caregivers with relatives suffering from early psychosis in Hong Kong. Analyses of the interview scripts of 58 caregivers
revealed that they required an average of 5 months and 2.14 helpers before their ill relatives could receive formal psychiatric
services. Drawing on Lin and Lin’s model of the Chinese help-seeking pathway as a basis for discussion, this study finds that
family caregivers engaged in intrafamilial coping and expanded in concentric circles to include relatives and friends as helpers
in the help-seeking pathway. Contrary to Lin and Lin’s view that informal network members might cause a delay in the help-seeking
process, it is revealed that informal network members who possessed adequate knowledge of mental illness were able to encourage
family caregivers to seek help from formal psychiatric services. The duration leading to extrafamilial coping was shorter
than the one implied in Lin and Lin’s model. Family caregivers were quite ready to seek help from professionals in the formal
psychiatric services despite the fact that the ill relatives were reluctant to seek treatment due to psychiatric stigma. Finally,
the findings of this study do not support the existence of the “rejection phase” of the help-seeking process proposed by Lin
and Lin.
Keywords Chinese caregivers - early psychosis - help-seeking pathway - Hong Kong - sociocultural factors