MODULE 14

Mental Health: Culture, Race & Ethnicity

• Understanding Race, Ethnicity & Culture
• Culture
• Cultural Concepts of Distress
• Mental Health Disparities
• Causes and Results of Disparities
• Racial and Ethnic Groups and Mental Health
  • sajkdhfksadh

Mental Health: Culture, Race & Ethnicity

A critical piece of any examination of the physical and mental health of children in the United States is a discussion of the influences of race, culture and ethnicity on access to and quality of care.

Census data indicate that diversity in the United States is increasing:

1. The nation's total minority population increased by 1.9 percent and was 116 million, or 37 percent, of the total population in July 2012. (The minority population includes people in any category other than non-Hispanic white alone.)¹
2. Among children younger than 5, 49.9 percent were minority.¹
3. More than 11 percent (353) of the nation's 3,143 counties were majority-minority as of July 1, 2012.¹
4. By 2043, population projections estimate that the population of minorities in the U.S. will become the majority.¹

Yet, as a landmark Surgeon General’s report stated in 2001, “the science base on racial and ethnic minority mental health is inadequate; the best available research, however, indicates that these groups have less access to and availability of care, and tend to receive poorer quality mental health services. These disparities leave minority communities with a greater disability burden from unmet mental health needs.”²

Mental health care for the majority population of children in the United States is already lacking.³ Disparities resulting from inequities in access to mental health services and the quality of those services exacerbate this situation.⁴

Culturally and linguistically appropriate services have been shown to decrease the prevalence, incidence, severity, and duration of certain mental disorders.⁵ Key to delivering these services is broadening the knowledge base of care providers on how culture, mental health, and mental disorders are connected.

This module will

1. Consider key concepts and definitions of terms essential to an informed discussion;
2. Outline the mental health statuses of children within the most significant racial and ethnic minority groups as defined by the U.S. government;
3. Present a basic approach toward enhancing primary care providers’ cultural competency.

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1. Asians Fastest-Growing Race or Ethnic Group in 2012, Census Bureau Reports. (2013, June 13). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb13-112.html on June 18, 2013.
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity—a supplement to mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services.
3. Kataoka, S.; Zhang, L.; Wells, K. (2002). Unmet Need for Mental Health Care among U.S. Children: Variation by Ethnicity and Insurance Status. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9): 1548-1555.
4. Ringel, J. S.; Sturm, R. 2001. National Estimates of Mental Health Utilization and Expenditures for Children in 1998. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 28(3): 319-333.
5. 2010 National Healthcare Quality Report. January 2013. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqr10/index.html