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Covid-19: understanding inequalities in mental health during the pandemic
- Authors:
- ALLWOOD Louis, BELL Andy
- Publisher:
- Centre for Mental Health
- Publication year:
- 2020
- Pagination:
- 18
- Place of publication:
- London
This briefing paper explores the mental health inequalities that are associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. It finds that the virus and the lockdown are putting greater pressure on groups and communities whose mental health was already poorer and more precarious. These include people living with mental health problems, whose access to services has been interrupted; people who live with both mental health problems and long term physical conditions that put them at greater risk of the virus; older adults who are both susceptible to the virus themselves and much more likely than others to lose partners and peers; women and children exposed to trauma and violence at home during lockdown; and people from the ethnic groups where the prevalence of COVID-19 has been highest and outcomes have been the worst, notably people from Black British, Black African, Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds. The paper calls on the Government to take urgent action to address race inequality in mental health, including the urgent need for funding for organisations working in communities that have been affected most deeply by the pandemic. It calls for action to ensure people with mental health problems have access to food and medicine as well as continued financial safety-nets for those at greatest risk from the virus. And it calls for longer term action, including to build on the positive steps that have already been taken to prevent homelessness and improve the benefits system. (Edited publisher abstract)
Barriers to treatment and culturally endorsed coping strategies among depressed African-American older adults
- Authors:
- CONNER Kyaien, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 14(8), November 2010, pp.971-983.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to the effects of depression, however, they are less likely to seek and engage in mental health treatment. African-American older adults are even less likely than their White counterparts to seek and engage in mental health treatment. This qualitative study examined the experience of being depressed among African-American elders and their perceptions of barriers confronted when contemplating seeking mental health services. In addition, the study examined how coping strategies are utilised by African-American elders who choose not to seek professional mental health services. A total of 37 interviews were conducted with African-American elders with at least mild symptoms of depression. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed, and content analysis was utilised to analyse the qualitative data. Thematic analysis of the findings of the interviews is presented in 3 areas: beliefs about depression among older African-Americans; barriers to seeking treatment for older African-Americans; and cultural coping strategies for depressed African-American older adults. The older African-Americans in this study identified a number of experiences living in the Black community that impacted their treatment seeking attitudes and behaviours, which led to identification and utilisation of more culturally endorsed coping strategies to deal with their depression. Findings from this study provide a greater understanding of the stigma associated with having a mental illness and its influence on attitudes toward mental health services.
Equalities in mental health
- Author:
- NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT UNIT
- Publisher:
- National Mental Health Development Unit
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 9p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This fact sheet outlines some relevant facts and figures relating to inequality in mental health. It discusses race issues, age and sex discrimination, and inequalities with those with learning disabilities. It also highlights how these inequalities affect children and young people.
Demographic changes among ethnic minority elders in England and Wales: implications for development and delivery of old age psychiatry services
- Author:
- SHAH Ajit
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Migration Health and Social Care, 3(2), October 2007, pp.22-32.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Demographic data pertaining to the elderly from black and minority ethnic groups in the 2001 population census were analysed to evaluate the implications for development and delivery of old age psychiatry services for black and minority ethnic elders. The demographic changes identified have important implications for the future development and delivery of services. Unless they are addressed it is argued that black and minority elders will continue to harbour untreated, hidden psychiatric morbidity.
Access to a community aged psychiatry service by elderly from non-English-speaking backgrounds
- Authors:
- HASSETT Anne, GEORGE Kuruvilla
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(7), July 2002, pp.623-628.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
With the ageing of Australia's ethnic communities, aged mental health services need to examine issues pertaining to accessibility and appropriateness in the context of this sociodemographic change. The aim of this review of referrals to a community aged-psychiatry service was to compare for differences between patients from non-English-speaking backgrounds and English-speaking backgrounds. The 12-month review of referrals to an aged psychiatry community service found that nearly half were of elderly patients from Non English Speaking Backgrounds. The lower utilisation of the service by certain ethnic groups may reflect obstacles in their pathway to care. Alternatively, strong family networks, or a lower prevalence of mental illness in these elderly, may explain the findings in this report.
Ethnicity: an agenda for mental health
- Editors:
- BHUGRA Dinesh, VEENA Bahl
- Publishers:
- Gaskell, Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Publication year:
- 1999
- Pagination:
- 202p.,tables,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
Sets the scene for identifying and meeting the mental health needs of black and minority ethnic people. Includes chapters on: ethnicity; a national perspective on mental illness; cultural aspects of mental disorder in primary care; pathways into care; epidemiological factors in research with ethnic minorities; risk factors for psychosis in the UK African-Caribbean population; common mental disorders among African-Caribbean general practice attenders in Brixton, London; ethnicity and alcohol misuse; child psychiatry; cross cultural approaches to dementia and depression in older adults; suicide; postnatal depression in Japanese women who have given birth in England; forensic psychiatry; joint working; user views of mental health services; NHS services for black patients; alternatives to institutional psychiatry; and the role of general practitioners.
Access to mental health care in an inner-city health district. II: Association with demographic factors
- Authors:
- COMMANDER M.J., et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, April 1997, pp.317-320.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
In addition to clinical and service factors, planners need to take account of the influence of demographic variables, especially ethnicity, on access to mental health care. This article assesses the demographic determinants of access to mental health care in a deprived inner-city area in the West Birmingham Health District. Results found considerable differences in access to mental health care, particularly according to ethnicity. The major impediment to Asians accessing care occurred at the interface between primary and secondary care, whereas the most striking feature for the Afro Caribbean population was the poor level of case recognition by GPs. Concludes that purchasers and providers need to address differential patterns of use when developing and reviewing services.