Perceived Discrimination, Experiential Avoidance, and Mental Health among Hispanic Adults in Primary Care

2022 ◽  
pp. 136346152110381
Author(s):  
Michael J. Zvolensky ◽  
Andrew H. Rogers ◽  
Nubia A. Mayorga ◽  
Justin M. Shepherd ◽  
Jafar Bakhshaie ◽  
...  

The Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the United States and frequently experiences racial discrimination and mental health difficulties. Prior work suggests that perceived racial discrimination is a significant risk factor for poorer mental health among Hispanic in the United States. However, little work has investigated how perceived racial discrimination relates to anxiety and depression among Hispanic adults. Thus, the current study evaluated the explanatory role of experiential avoidance in the relation between perceived racial discrimination and anxiety/depressive symptoms and disorders among Hispanic adults in primary care. Participants included 202 Spanish-speaking adults ( Mage = 38.99, SD = 12.43, 86.1% female) attending a community-based Federally Qualified Health Center. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that perceived racial discrimination had a significant indirect effect on depression, social anxiety, and anxious arousal symptoms as well as the number of mood and anxiety disorders through experiential avoidance. These findings suggest future work should continue to explore experiential avoidance in the association between perceived racial discrimination and other psychiatric and medical problems among the Hispanic population.

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Dawson

The Hispanic population is the largest growing minority group in the United States. A helpful resource to assist in designing programs and interventions aimed at Hispanic communities was recently completed by the Pew Hispanic Center and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Over 4,000 Hispanic adults were included in the study which highlights how the diverse characteristics of the Hispanic population affect their health care needs and their comprehension of health care resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110183
Author(s):  
Azza Sarfraz ◽  
Zouina Sarfraz ◽  
Alanna Barrios ◽  
Kuchalambal Agadi ◽  
Sindhu Thevuthasan ◽  
...  

Background: Health disparities have become apparent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. When observing racial discrimination in healthcare, self-reported incidences, and perceptions among minority groups in the United States suggest that, the most socioeconomically underrepresented groups will suffer disproportionately in COVID-19 due to synergistic mechanisms. This study reports racially-stratified data regarding the experiences and impacts of different groups availing the healthcare system to identify disparities in outcomes of minority and majority groups in the United States. Methods: Studies were identified utilizing PubMed, Embase, CINAHL Plus, and PsycINFO search engines without date and language restrictions. The following keywords were used: Healthcare, raci*, ethnic*, discriminant, hosti*, harass*, insur*, education, income, psychiat*, COVID-19, incidence, mortality, mechanical ventilation. Statistical analysis was conducted in Review Manager (RevMan V.5.4). Unadjusted Odds Ratios, P-values, and 95% confidence intervals were presented. Results: Discrimination in the United States is evident among racial groups regarding medical care portraying mental risk behaviors as having serious outcomes in the health of minority groups. The perceived health inequity had a low association to the majority group as compared to the minority group (OR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.78; P = .007), and the association of mental health problems to the Caucasian-American majority group was low (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.45 to 0.58; P < .001). Conclusion: As the pandemic continues into its next stage, efforts should be taken to address the gaps in clinical training and education, and medical practice to avoid the recurring patterns of racial health disparities that become especially prominent in community health emergencies. A standardized tool to assess racial discrimination and inequity will potentially improve pandemic healthcare delivery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 584-592
Author(s):  
Neha Sharma ◽  
Deepika Shaligram ◽  
Grace H Yoon

Objective: South Asians (SAs), a rapidly growing minority group in the United States are underrepresented in mental health research. They represent a unique sub-group of Asian immigrants in that their journey to the United States in the last 50 years was driven by the pursuit of academic and career opportunities. Our goal is to provide a topical overview of factors contributing to the mental health challenges of South Asian American (SAA) youth and to describe culturally sensitive approaches that would provide effective treatment for SAA youth and their families. Methods: We conducted a review of published literature in PubMed and PsycInfo search engines using the key words South Asian immigrants, South Asian Americans, psychological, psychiatric, mental health treatment, therapy and interventions. Results: The challenges faced by these highly educated families are distinctive in that there is a struggle to maintain ethnic identity based on collectivism while embracing American ideals of individualism. These opposing values along with model minority expectations put SAs at high risk for mental health concerns and acculturative family distancing. Furthermore, mental health stigma impedes help-seeking. Mental health practitioners must navigate the different value systems of the parent–child dyad without ostracizing either generation and deliver effective care. Hence, culturally adapted family therapy and community-based approaches may be particularly relevant in SA youth. Conclusion: Our article outlines common family attitudes and issues pertinent to mental health in youth and discusses useful clinical approaches to dealing with SAA youth and their families.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Chun Tsai ◽  
Meifen Wei

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the coping strategies of internalization (e.g., attributing the causes or responsibility of racial discrimination events to oneself) and resistance (e.g., confronting others for their discriminatory behaviors) moderated the association between racial discrimination and experience of new possibilities for Chinese international students. Experience of new possibilities refers to the positive psychological changes associated with finding new opportunities after a traumatic, negative event such as racial discrimination. A total of 258 Chinese international students in the United States completed an online survey. Results indicated that an association between perceived racial discrimination and experience of new possibilities was significantly positive for female Chinese international students with a higher use of the internalization coping or a lower use of resistance coping. However, this association was significantly positive for male Chinese international students with a lower use of the internalization coping or a higher use of resistance coping.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances J. Wren ◽  
Sarah H. Scholle ◽  
Jungeun Heo ◽  
Diane M. Comer

Objective: To describe how primary care clinicians manage children in whom they diagnose mood or anxiety syndromes. Method: This study is a secondary analysis of data from the multi-site Child Behavior Study (CBS)—a cross-sectional survey of primary care management of psychosocial problems. The management of children in whom clinicians identified mood or anxiety syndromes is described and compared with the management of children in whom they identified other psychosocial problems. Recruitment for the CBS occurred in 206 primary care practices in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada from October 1994 through June 1997. Participants were 20,861 consecutively sampled primary care attendees aged 4–15 years and 395 clinicians. Primary outcome measures for this report are rates of referral to specialized mental health care and rates of active primary care management (i.e., scheduling a follow-up appointment and/or providing ongoing counseling and/or psychotropic prescription). Results: Identification of a mood or anxiety syndrome was associated with increased rates of referral to mental health compared with rates for children with other psychosocial problems. There was no effect on the proportion of children counseled during the visit. In fact, unless accompanied by a co-morbid behavioral syndrome, children receiving the diagnosis of a mood or anxiety syndrome were less likely to be offered a scheduled follow-up appointment. Rates of prescription of antidepressants or anti-anxiety agents were higher for mood/anxiety groups but this was still uncommon (6.7%). Conclusions: Active management of childhood mood and anxiety syndromes in primary care was uncommon in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada in the mid-1990s.


2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Atri ◽  
Manoj Sharma

Migration predisposes international students to problems related to mental health. Students from Asia experience a totally different culture when they move to the United States. Within Asia there are several heterogeneous subgroups and one such group is that of South Asians or the students from the Indian Subcontinent that share somewhat similar culture. Often due to achievement of academic success this group is considered a “model minority” group but that is not the case when we see mental health issues. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify predictors of mental health and psychological well being in the migrant student populations from South Asia and design recommendations for a health education intervention for this population. An extensive search of CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, and Google scholar was done. It was found that predictors have been classified into three main research domains: personal growth, subjective well being, and those related to stress resistant personality. A more pragmatic classification was done that classified the factors into easily modifiable and non modifiable groups with a further break down into individual and environmental factors. For designing health education interventions modifiable individual level modifiable constructs such as acculturation, competence, coping, English proficiency, life satisfaction, religiosity, self esteem, social efficacy, and social support, must be targeted one at a time. Efforts must be made to build skills as opposed to mere cognitive development and the health education interventions must be culturally competent.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Lasser ◽  
David U. Himmelstein ◽  
Steffie J. Woolhandler ◽  
Danny McCormick ◽  
David H. Bor

Older studies have found that minorities in the United States receive fewer mental health services than whites. This analysis compares rates of outpatient mental health treatment according to race and ethnicity using more recent, population-based data, from the 1997 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The authors calculated visit rates per 1,000 population to either primary care or psychiatric providers for mental health counseling, psychotherapy, and psychiatric drug therapy. In the primary care setting, Hispanics and blacks had lower visit rates (per 1,000 population) for drug therapy than whites (48.3 and 73.7 vs. 109.0; P < .0001 and P < .01, respectively). Blacks also had a lower visit rate for talk therapy (mental health counseling or psychotherapy) than whites (23.6 vs. 42.5; P < .01). In the psychiatric setting, Hispanics and blacks had lower visit rates than whites for talk therapy (38.4 and 33.6 vs. 85.1; P < .0001 for both comparisons) and drug therapy (38.3 and 29.1 vs. 71.8; P < .0001 for both comparisons). These results indicate that minorities receive about half as much outpatient mental health care as whites.


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