Outline
Mental health disparity among the different ethnic groups in the United States has been highlighted for years. The Latino or Hispanic population suffers the greatest disparity among all the other ethnic groups. Latinos are unable to get access to major services like cultural competent care. Living conditions for Latinos is usually in poverty stricken area with limited access to psychiatric care. Latinos are also likely to be without insurance coverages. Added to this, most Latinos with a mental health disorder will be reluctant to seek medical assistance because of stigmatization. These reasons have contributed to an increase in mental health disorders and the disparity that is seen in their communities.
This is a major social justice
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issue and education, amongst other things will be very important in changing their attitudes towards the way they perceived mental health. Latinos should be made to be aware that seeking immediate treatment from a mental health professional is best for anyone suffering from the disorder. Also, states and the federal government should be more pro-active in helping these communities get access to social mental health services and facilities. They should mandate the American Psychiatric Association to provide them with mental health professionals that will decide to work in their communities. Latinos are a very important group in the U.S. since they are the largest minority group. They do most of the odd jobs and contribute greatly to the economy. They should therefore not be allowed to disintegrate into obscurity because of reversible conditions. With the collaboration of everyone, including governments (states and federal), organizations and NGOs, the disparity that Latinos go through in mental health will be reduced or totally eliminated. Introduction The United States is made up of different ethnic groups and sub-groups. There is a majority group and minority groups. One of these minority groups is the Latino group. They are the largest minority group in the country. But despite this, they experience several disparities in seeking medical treatment, especially mental health treatment. This paper will give a scope of this issue and what the current situation is. The social impacts and consequences, if it is not addressed, will be discussed. Furthermore, the short term, long term, current actions and programs that have been put in place to address the situation will also be discussed. Finally, the organizations that have taken notice of this issue will be discussed and a conclusion will be given. Scope of the issue An important social justice issue in mental health today is the disparities among the Latino people.
The most important of these is the lack of access to mental health services the Hispanic population experience. They are affected by mental health problems at rates that are similar or higher to those of the general population (APA). They are therefore a very high-risk group because of the disparities they experience in seeking social services and following up with treatment. Hispanics are the highest minority population in the United States. It has therefore taken the attention of major stakeholders because of the lack of social services that are available to them, especially those with mental health. For example, the Surgeon General in 2001 made a report titled Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, in which he stressed on the need to eliminate disparities in the utilization of mental health services among Latinos as a top priority. He concluded that the disparities they experience have contributed to major depressive disorders among them and has led to chronic illnesses. It has led to a high degree of functional limitation among them than among other populations. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) also contributed to this discussion in its report titled Unequal Treatment. They defined disparity as differences between racial-ethnic minority groups and whites that have contributed to both socio-economic and health care disparities that are for most of the time against …show more content…
Hispanics. There is therefore the need to focus more on this issue and try to reverse the trend as soon as possible. The Current Situation The current situation of the disparity that Latinos go through in mental health is overwhelming. According to the Agency for Health Research and Quality titled National Healthcare Disparities Report (2013), less than 55% of Hispanic adults and about only 30% of adolescents with major depressive episodes in the previous year receive treatment for depression (AHRQ). The American Psychiatric Association (APA), in 2001 reported that as few as 1 in 11 Hispanics with mental health issues seek professional care. The National Association for Mental Health Illness (NAMI) also reports that there are as few as 29 Latino mental health professionals for every 100,000 Latinos. The main reason for this is the lack of insurance. It has been known for a long time that Latinos are the highest uninsured population of all racial ethnic groups in the U.S. Another reason for the huge disparity in mental health in the Latino community is because of language barriers. Some of them are not proficient in English and very often; there is a lack of interpreters and a lack of bilingual psychiatrics and mental health professionals. Furthermore, Latinos have different attitudes towards mental illness. They often feel stigmatized for accessing the services that are provided to them. They often don’t want to be labeled with a mental illness. They may not recognize their symptoms as something that requires the attention from a mental health specialist because Latinos usually think that mental health is temporary. They will therefore turn to religious leaders instead of mental health specialist. All these have contributed to the perceived disparity that the Latinos experience in mental health. Social Impacts and Consequences This issue needed to be addressed immediately because if not, it will lead to dangerous social impacts and consequences for the Latino population. Latinos will continue to suffer from increasing numbers with mental health issues. Latinos are not aware of the mental health disorders characteristics including signs and symptoms, therefore, they fail to seek immediate help causing complication of the disease affecting families both socially and economically. In addition, there will be a reduction in the family finance since most Latino families tend to live together and contribute as a group towards the resources of the household. All this would have stemmed from the disparity that they suffer in being unable to get proper access to mental health assistance. This can lead to suicides for both a family members and the person experiencing the disorder. This greatly affect Latinos and will have a negative social impact on the community. Long Term Changes Certain long-term changes must be made to reverse this situation. The effects of ethnicity or race on mental health should be analyzed at all levels and in combination with variables that will relate to poverty status, insurance rates, and language barriers. This will help to identify the changes that are needed to be made in reducing the disparity in mental health among Latinos. Current Actions to Lessen Immediate Impacts Latinos should be educated that mental health is a disorder that can affect any population and that it is not only confined to their community. They should be aware to seek professional help when they start experiencing signs and symptoms of a cognitive disorder, in addition to seeking help from religious leaders. Community centers should be set up in Latino communities that will help educate them on what actions to take during manifestations mental health illnesses. Most of the Latinos are working illegally without healthcare coverage therefore, the government should provide access to health care coverage. There should also be clinics set up to provide culturally competent care to the Latinos. Furthermore, good paying jobs with insurance coverage’s should be set up in the Latino communities that will improve their economic condition and enable those with mental health disorder to seek proper treatment. Sometimes, some Latinos want to seek assistance for their disorder but due to lack of finances or health insurance they are unable to do so. This is why we see a lot of disparity in the mental health sector among Latinos. Programs That Will Produce Changes Several programs should be set up that will help Latinos with mental health issues to seek medical assistance reducing the disparity among them. Immunizations should be provided to all Latino children since studies have shown that this group is less likely to receive influenza and pneumococcal vaccines. Funding should be provided to the Hispanic Serving Health Professionals Schools (HSHPS), to help address the disparity in mental health among their community. Eliminating health disparities will also require new knowledge about the determinants of disease, causes of health disparities and the effective interventions that are needed to prevent and treat mental health disorders. All these programs should be made available to the Latino community and this will help them know what mental health disease is and how to address it. This will also be very useful in producing changes that will limit the disparity Latino with mental health go through. Organizations That Are Addressing This Issue A lot of organizations are addressing this issue today.
One of the goals of Healthy People 2010 is to eliminate health disparities among groups. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR), has been leaders of the Healthy People 2010 initiative to eliminate disparities among racial groups. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) also contributed to this debate by providing definitions and statistics on this issue. Finally, the National Healthcare Disparities Report further gave evidence on this topic and the need to do something to change the situation. All these organizations have seen huge differences that the different communities or populations experience in mental health today in the U.S. All of them have the firm conviction that Latinos suffer a great disservice when it comes to accessing mental health services and they are also in agreement that this disparity needs to change and has therefore decided to make an input on this
topic. Conclusion The above analysis has shown that health care disparities among Latinos with mental health are a very important social justice issue today in the United States. Latinos suffer from disparities primarily because of a lack of education and language barriers. They are afraid of the stigma associated with being labeled as having a mental health problem and therefore refuse to seek treatment. This has led to the high increase in mental health disorders in the Latino community and the perceived disparity among them and other populations. This has led to negative impacts and consequences on their community like economic and social. As a result of this, certain short term, long term and other programs needed to be implemented to lessen the immediate impacts. Some organizations have also taken notice of this issue and are putting tremendous efforts to address it and changing the current situation. This will help greatly in reducing the disparity Hispanics or Latinos experience in mental health.
All minority groups experience discrimination which leads to increased levels of stress in those individuals. As the level of stress goes up, so does the risk for several health complications including those related to mental health. Wells, Klap, Koike, and Sherbourne (2001) conducted a study examining the disparities in mental health care among black, Hispanic, and white Americans. Of those Hispanics in the study (n=617), 16.6% of them had a probable mental disorder compared to 13.4% of whites (n=7,299). Hispanics also had a higher incidence of substance abuse problems with 9% of those surveyed meeting criteria compared to 7.6% of whites. Hispanics also had the least reported perceived need for treatment with 10.4% for mental health and only 1.3% for substance abuse. A clinician treating Antonio should keep in mind that he has a higher likelihood of having a mental illness or substance use disorder than a white client as well as the fact that if he does meet the criteria for either, that he probably does not believe he needs
Mental healthcare has a long and murky past in the United States. In the early 1900s, patients could live in institutions for many years. The treatments and conditions were, at times, inhumane. Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s created programs to protect this vulnerable population from abuse and discrimination. In the last 20 years, mental health advocacy groups and legislators have made gains in bringing attention to the disparity between physical and mental health programs. However, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses continues to be less than optimal. Mental health disparities continue to exist in all areas of the world.
Large disparities exist between minorities and the rest of Americans in major areas of health. Even though the overall health of the nation is improving, minorities suffer from certain diseases up to five times more than the rest of the nation. President Clinton has committed the nation to eliminating the disparities in six areas of health by the Year 2010, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be jumping in on this huge battle. The six areas are: Infant Mortality, Cancer Screening and Management, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, HIV Infection and AIDS, and Child and Adult Immunizations.
Health care for mental illness is an issue in the African American community for Men, Women and Adolescents due to the underserving and lack of mental healthcare providers, the cultural stigma of having mental illness and the socioeconomic status of African Americans.
3) Surgeon General's Report: "Mental Health- Culture, Race, Ethnicity" . A supplement to "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General 1999."
Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.
Mental health care disparities can be rooted in inequalities in access to good providers, differences in insurance coverage, or discrimination by health professionals in the clinical encounter (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Surely, those who are affected by these disparities are minorities Blacks and Latinos compare to Whites. Due to higher rates of poverty and poor health among United States minorities compared with whites. Moreover, the fact that poverty and poor health are
According to the institute of Medicine (IOM), racism is a problem in the health care system, that is, the difference between the quality of health care received by minorities and non-minorities is due to racism. IOM is a nonprofit organization that advises the federal government and the public on science policy. It released a report that on average, minorities receive a lower quality of care, even when factors such as income and type of health insurance are accounted for. The report by IOM states that racial stereotypes and prejudice are the cause of the health care disparities. The article by IOM points ...
Whaley, A. L. (1997). Ethnic and racial differences in perceptions of dangerousness of persons with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 48, 1328-1330.
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
Psychological distress, acculturation, and help-seeking attitudes were all measured using specific indexes and scales set for the point of interest. The hypotheses of this research was that even within the African American community, one would find disparities in the treatment of psychological issues – just based on the method of acculturation used, and their views on society. There are 4 basic modes of acculturation: traditionalist, assimilationist, integrationist, and marginalist. It is thought that the integrationist acculturation strategy is the best for optimizing and maximizing well-being. Although there is not a difference in the number of African Americans that have mental health problems when compared to European-Americans, the percentage of those who seek professional mental health services due to emotional distress is representatively lower. The rate at which African Americans receive psychological help services is half as much as that of European Americans – there is a need for an explanation of that statistic. The goal of this paper is to determine the reasoning behind the help-seeking disparities in African Americans and the field of psychological health. In order to make health services fair, we must first understand the reasoning behind why or why not one would seek out professional help in the first place. Understanding ethno cultural attitudes and other cultural variables will allow the health care field to better relate and help all people more uniformly and to the best of their needs.
Those that are homeless or living in poverty have high rates of mental disorders, but have limited access to get assistance due to they are the ones that are being discriminated against because of their social status (Saxena, et al., 2007). In some countries, it is a person’s sex that determines if they meet the criteria for assistance, more woman than men normally meet the criteria for common mental disorders and assistance (Saxena, et al., 2007). The last example are those that live in rural areas due to they are not in close proximity to a major city to be able to receive the care they need (Saxena et al., 2007). Where I live these are all barriers for those with mental illness to get assistance and I do not feel like there is much being done to improve the situation. Next I will discuss the last worldwide barrier, which is inefficiencies when using the
People with serious socio-emotional and emotional disturbances are challenged in many aspects of life. Historically people of color with serious mental health related issues had little assistance and chances to having their needs met equally to Whites. In order to properly or adequately address the emotional and mental wellbeing of everyone on an equal basis, the stigma association must be removed from people of color.
Similar to gender, on a biological basis, being born a particular race does not necessarily predisposition one for ill mental health. However, there are recorded trends of certain racial groups experiencing some specific psychological disorders more than others. For example, a report published by Toronto Public Health in 2013 examined rates of depression between racialized groups. The report found that Black individuals were at greater risk of depressive symptoms in comparison to the White individuals (Ansara et al., 2013). In addition, a separate study conducted in 2008 revealed that American Indians showed greater risk for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependence, but lower risk for major depression (McGuire et al., 2008). When examining possible reasons for certain racial groups to be a greater risk for particular mental disorders, similar to gender, it is important to examine unique social experiences that may be more attributable to certain racial groups. Social inequities, racial discrimination, poverty, and marginalization of racialized groups can have an eviscerating effect on these people. Despite these trends, the most important factor to be aware of is that racial and ethnic minorities have less access to mental health service, compared to Whites. As well, they are less likely to receive
Both mental illness and substance abuse remain stigmatized with major gender, racial-ethnic and economic inequalities in access, use and quality of services and support. Therefore, my goal is to collaborate with educational institutions, health organizations and government agencies to create, study, and disseminate interventions that reduce the risk, increase resilience, provide effective treatment, and aid in-long term recovery. In particular, I am interested in creating policies that will help bridge the economic inequalities face by those who experience mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders. With these plans in mind, I am currently studying French and will continue working with underserved communities to gain valuable field experience in public