African Americans and the Vocational Rehabilitation Service System in the United States: The Impact on Mental Health

Author(s):  
Julie Vryhof ◽  
Fabricio E. Balcazar
2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
Keith B. Wilson ◽  
Tyra Turner ◽  
Jiawei Liu ◽  
Debra A. Harley ◽  
Reginald J. Alston

The purpose of this study was to examine whether African Americans, European Americans, and other races and ethnicities with disabilities differed in perceived job placement efficacy of vocational rehabilitation (VR) services in the United States. Binary logistic regression was employed to predict how African Americans, European Americans, and other races and ethnicities would view VR services in assisting them to get Jobs. The test statistic revealed that race/ethnicity and perceived VR service efficacy among VR customers were not statistically significant. However, as the number (answering yes on the NIHS) of African Americans, European Americans, and other races and ethnicities increased, they perceived that the VR services they received did not assist them in getting a Job. Future research considerations for VR administrators and counselors are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy N. Tansey ◽  
David Strauser ◽  
Michael P. Frain ◽  
Malachy Bishop ◽  
Chung-Yi Chiu ◽  
...  

The experience of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) can have a profound effect on employment. The impact of MS is a complex interaction of personal, medical, functional, financial, and psychosocial variables that ultimately results in up to 80% of persons with MS leaving their jobs within 10 years of their diagnosis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the employment status of applicants with MS who were seeking services from state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies could be classified based on the type of services provided. A quantitative descriptive research design employing discriminant analysis (DA) was used to determine differential services received by employed and unemployed applicants with MS. Findings indicate that persons with MS who were employed at application were more likely to receive services geared toward career stabilization (i.e., assistive technology/accommodation services, counseling and guidance, and cognitive retraining-type rehabilitative services). Conversely, the unemployed applicant group had a higher propensity to receive services focused on job placement (i.e., job readiness, job seeking, and job placement services). Although a disparity persisted between the average worker in the United States and the outcomes achieved by VR service recipients regarding weekly wages and hours, services provided by the state-federal VR program reduce this disparity. In addition, the return on investment (ROI) associated with providing services to persons with MS was calculated as providing an $8 return for every dollar spent. Persons with MS employed at application had an ROI of more than $10 for every dollar spent. Implications for persons with MS, rehabilitation counselors, health care professionals, and policymakers are provided.


Author(s):  
Muse Abdi

Disproportionate rates of HIV infection among African Americans is an increasing concern in the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of HIV prevention programs on African Americans and social determinants fueling HIV-related risk behaviors. Using literature, this study analyzed the incidences of HIV infection among African Americans in the United States and the effectiveness of the prevention programs. African Americans struggle with mass incarceration, drugs, stigma, criminalization, and lack of economic opportunities, which contribute to the HIV-related risk behaviors. The existing traditional prevention programs in place are not working for African Americans. Tailored and culturally relevant programs should be designed and implemented. Further studies are needed to establish the causal relationships and develop preventive measures.


10.2196/14171 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. e14171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah ◽  
Julia Meredith Hess ◽  
Jessica R Goodkind

BackgroundConflicts around the world have resulted in a record high number of refugees. Family separation is a critical factor that impacts refugee mental health. Thus, it is important to explore refugees’ ability to maintain contact with family members across the globe and the ways in which they attempt to do so. It is increasingly common for refugees to use information and communication technologies (ICTs), which include mobile phones, the internet, and social media sites, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, and Viber, for these purposes.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore refugees’ perceptions of the impact of communication through ICTs on their mental health, the exercise of agency by refugees within the context of ICT use, especially their communication with their families, and logistical issues that affect their access to ICTs in the United States.MethodsWe used a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze in-depth interviews of 290 adult refugee participants from different countries, who were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a community-based mental health intervention.ResultsAnalyses showed that communication through ICTs had differing impacts on the mental health of refugee participants. ICTs, as channels of communication between separated families, were a major source of emotional and mental well-being for a large number of refugee participants. However, for some participants, the communication process with separated family members through digital technology was mentally and emotionally difficult. The participants also discussed ways in which they hide adversities from their families through selective use of different ICTs. Several participants noted logistical and financial barriers to communicating with their families through ICTs.ConclusionsThese findings are important in elucidating aspects of refugee agency and environmental constraints that need to be further explicated in theories related to ICT use as well as in providing insight for researchers and practitioners involved in efforts related to migration and mental health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph J. Frey ◽  
William J. Hall ◽  
Jeremy T. Goldbach ◽  
Paul Lanier

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and pansexual (LGB+) individuals have disproportionate rates of mental illness. Minority stress and sexual identity stigma are posited as the primary social determinants of LGB+ mental health disparities. Discussions in the literature have questioned the impact of sexual identity stigma in a world increasingly accepting of sexual minorities. Additionally, the LGB+ population in the United States South is often overlooked in American research. This article details a qualitative study exploring experiences related to sexual identity stigma among adults who identify as LGB+ in the United States South. Semi-structured interviews with 16 individuals were analyzed using content analysis. Six thematic categories of stigma emerged from participants’ experiences: (a) navigating an LGB+ identity, (b) social acceptability of an LGB+ identity, (c) expectation of LGB+ stigma, (d) interpersonal discrimination and harassment, (e) structural stigma, and (f) relationship with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Findings suggest that sexual identity stigma remains a common experience among these Southern United States participants. Further, thematic categories and subcategories primarily aligned with extant theory with one exception: Intracommunity stigma, a form of stigma emanating from the LGBTQ community, emerged as a stigma type not currently accounted for in theoretical foundations underpinning mental health disparities in this population.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney P. Witt ◽  
Carissa A. Gottlieb ◽  
John Hampton ◽  
Kristin Litzelman

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 900-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam K. Forbes ◽  
Robert F. Krueger

The full scope of the impact of the Great Recession on individuals’ mental health has not been quantified to date. In this study we aimed to determine whether financial, job-related, and housing impacts experienced by individuals during the recession predicted changes in the occurrence of symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and problematic alcohol use or other substance use. Longitudinal survey data ( n = 2,530 to n = 3,293) from the national Midlife in the United States study that were collected before (2003–2004) and after (2012–2013) the Great Recession were analyzed. The population-level trend was toward improvements in mental health over time. However, for individuals, each recession impact experienced was associated with long-lasting and transdiagnostic declines in mental health. These relationships were stronger for some sociodemographic groups, which suggests the need for additional support for people who suffer marked losses during recessions and for those without a strong safety net.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
OWEN DAVIS

AbstractThis article provides new evidence on the relationship between benefit conditionality and mental health. Using data on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families policies (TANF) – the main form of poverty relief in the United States – it explores whether the mental health of low-educated single mothers varies according to the stringency of conditionality requirements attached to receipt of benefit. Specifically, the article combines state-level data on sanctioning practices, work requirements and welfare-to-work spending with health data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and evaluates the impact of conditionality on mental health over a fifteen-year period (2000 to 2015). It finds that states that have harsher sanctions, stricter job search requirements and higher expenditure on welfare-to-work policies, have worse mental health among low-educated single mothers. There is also evidence that between-wave increases in the stringency of conditionality requirements are associated with deteriorations in mental health among the recipient population. It is suggested that these findings may reflect an overall effect of ‘intensive conditionality’, rather than of the individual variables per se. The article ends by considering the wider implications for policy and research.


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