Edited by Nhi-Ha Trinh, MD, MPH; Yanni Chun Rho, MD, MPH; Francis G. Lu, MD; Kathy Marie Sanders, MD; 206 pages; Humana Press, New York, New York; 2009; hardcover; 89.95

This book provides the research papers written by leading experts in the field for a major SAMHSA conference, which took place in November 2005, looking at the impact of acculturation on Asian American individuals and their families. The first half of the book reviews the development of acculturation scales and the impact of acculturation on mental health as well as the most recent research on acculturation. The second half of the book examines the ways in which clinicians incorporate acculturation into clinical practice, including working with families and special populations such as Southeast Asian Americans. It has chapters on the impact of immigration and acculturation on the mental health of Asian Americans with an overview of epidemiology and clinical implications; how to assess Asian American family acculturation in clinical settings with guidelines and recommendations for mental health professionals; the A-B-C in clinical practice with Southeast Asians with a basic understanding of migration and resettlement history; clinical considerations when working with Asian American children and adolescents; acculturation and Asian American elderly; and clinical insights from working with immigrant Asian Americans and their families with a focus on acculturation stressors. The book ends with conclusions and an index. The book is a synthesis of the work, research and theories presented at the conference.

Little is known and much remains to be understood concerning the exact nature of acculturation and how it affects the mental health of individuals and families. It will also be a long time before enough research has been done to show the impact on over 30 Asian American groups and 21 Pacific Islander subgroups. This book's goal is to advance the discussion about how to care for patients and their families and how to bring increasingly sophisticated rigor and excellence to clinical practice and research. Each chapter includes an abstract, a list of keywords, and a table of contents and ends with a summary and an extensive list of valuable references. I wish the editors had provided an alphabetized master list of references at the end of the book.

The chapter on acculturation and Asian American elderly confirms my own research on loss experienced by Southeast Asian elders who have resettled in Minnesota. These losses include loss of a way of life, loss of key family relationships, loss of roles, and fears about the loss of cultural heritage and cultural transmission to younger generations. In my sample [I looked at extensive life histories of five men and five women in each of four groups Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese], the result was a lot of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation as well as intense isolation and loneliness. Dementia was little understood and was seen as a normal part of aging, with families generally preferring to care for their elderly at home.

I found this book to be a superb and much needed overview of all these issues and much more as well as suggestions on how better to serve the Asian American population [the fastest growing minority group in the United States] in clinical settings. Here, those of us who could not attend the 2005 symposium are given the opportunity to profit from the expertise that was shared there. The intended audience, in my opinion, is students and graduate students as well as practicing clinicians with an interest in the topic. Chapters are beautifully written, powerful, clear and flowing, and peppered with important charts, tables and references. I found the book difficult to put down and I read chapters in depth.

[Reviewed by Marcie Parker, Ph.D., CFLE, private consultant in healthcare, cross-cultural health, aging and long-term care. Parker is President and CEO of Parker and Associates in Excelsior, Minnesota.]