CULTURE COUNTS: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

Course overview

Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity was written as a supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1999). It documents the existence of striking disparities for minorities in mental health services and the underlying knowledge base. Racial and ethnic minorities have less access to mental health services than do whites. They are less likely to receive needed care. When they receive care, it is more likely to be poor in quality. In Chapter 3, the focus is on exploring mental illness among African Americans and possible contributing factors. Please note that, even though this report was published in 2001, a quick review of available resources on the status of mental health care disparities among African Americans in the more recent past (2008 to 2010) indicates that significant disparities still exist. Difficulties in ferreting out possible causes also still exist. Key words: Culture, race, ethnicity, African-American, black, Caribbean, African, society, minorities, minority, white, black, Asian, Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, native, Indian, mental health, disparity, diversity, poverty, context, immigrant, immigration, surgeon general