Qualitative study maps provider-reported barriers to Asian American addiction care

Healthcare and community providers serving Asian American clients with substance use disorders identified language barriers, stigma, socioeconomic pressures and unclear communication within court-mandated treatment as obstacles to care in New York City. The findings came from a qualitative study based on one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with eight providers working across clinical and community settings between December 2022 and May 2023.

Providers described a broad range of inpatient, outpatient and court-mandated services, but reported persistent shortfalls in cultural and linguistic competence. They also described differing substance-use patterns among age groups, including growing ketamine use among younger clients and persistent alcohol use among older clients. These patterns reflect the interviewed providers’ observations and were not presented as population-level prevalence estimates.

The analysis produced six interrelated themes: types of services provided, substance-use trends, barriers to care, community needs, existing interventions tailored to Asian Americans, and client-engagement strategies. Providers cited stigma rooted in cultural beliefs about mental health, limited bilingual capacity and opaque communication from court-mandated treatment pathways. Intersecting socioeconomic pressures, including housing instability and food insecurity, were also identified as barriers to care.

The study further found that aggregating diverse Asian American subgroups into a single data category obscured distinct needs and impeded program planning. Based on the providers’ accounts, the authors called for culturally and linguistically tailored treatment, stronger collaboration between treatment programs and the legal system, sustained investment in community-based organizations, and disaggregated data collection across Asian American subgroups. Because the study included only eight purposively sampled providers in one city, it does not establish how widespread these barriers are among Asian American people with substance use disorders generally.

Subject of Research: Provider-reported barriers to substance use disorder treatment for Asian American clients in New York City

Article Title: Barriers to substance use disorder treatment among Asian Americans in New York City: A qualitative study of provider perspectives

Article References: Hong, S., Sanico, M., Yang, H., Yi, S. S., Lim, S., Neighbors, C. J., & Choi, S. (2026). Barriers to substance use disorder treatment among Asian Americans in New York City: A qualitative study of provider perspectives. PLOS Mental Health, 3(10), e0000743. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000743

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000743

Keywords: substance use disorders, Asian Americans, treatment access, cultural competence, language barriers, treatment stigma, New York City, qualitative research, community health, provider perspectives, Barriers, substance