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Published Online: 30 June 2023

Black Sexual Minority Adults’ Avoidance of Professional Mental Health Care

Natasha D. Williams, M.S. [email protected], Rodman E. Turpin, Ph.D., Bradley O. Boekeloo, Ph.D., Evelyn C. King-Marshall, Ph.D., and Jessica N. Fish, Ph.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: Psychiatric Services
Volume 75, Number 1
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20220445
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Abstract

Objective:

The authors sought to determine whether Black sexual minority individuals were more likely than White sexual minority individuals to postpone or avoid professional mental health care (PMHC) and, if so, to identify the reasons for postponing or avoiding care.

Methods:

Analyses were conducted with a subsample of cisgender Black (N=78) and White (N=398) sexual minority individuals from a larger survey of U.S. adults administered via MTurk in 2020 (N=1,012). Logistic regression models were used to identify racial differences in overall postponement or avoidance of care as well as differences in the prevalence of each of nine reasons for postponing or avoiding care.

Results:

Black sexual minority individuals were more likely than their White counterparts to report ever postponing or avoiding PMHC (average marginal effect [AME]=13.7 percentage points, 95% CI=5.4–21.9). Black sexual minority people also were more likely than their White counterparts to cite beliefs that they should work out their problems on their own (AME=13.1 percentage points, 95% CI=1.2–24.9) or with family and friends (AME=17.5 percentage points, 95% CI=6.0–29.1) and to cite providers’ refusal to treat them (AME=17.4 percentage points, 95% CI=7.6–27.1) as reasons for postponing or avoiding care.

Conclusions:

Black sexual minority individuals were more likely than their White counterparts to report delaying or avoiding PMHC. Personal beliefs about managing mental health and providers’ refusal to offer treatment influenced Black sexual minority individuals’ willingness or ability to seek PMHC.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Volume 75 • Number 1 • January 01, 2024
Pages: 40 - 47
PubMed: 37386879

History

Received: 2 September 2022
Revision received: 17 February 2023
Revision received: 28 April 2023
Accepted: 10 May 2023
Published online: 30 June 2023
Published in print: January 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Black Mental Health
  2. Sexual Minority
  3. LGBT
  4. Mental Health Care Access
  5. Racial-Ethnic Disparities
  6. Homosexuality

Authors

Details

Natasha D. Williams, M.S. [email protected]
University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park (all authors); Departments of Family Science (Williams, Fish) and Behavioral and Community Health (Boekeloo, King-Marshall), School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park; Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Turpin).
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Rodman E. Turpin, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park (all authors); Departments of Family Science (Williams, Fish) and Behavioral and Community Health (Boekeloo, King-Marshall), School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park; Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Turpin).
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Bradley O. Boekeloo, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park (all authors); Departments of Family Science (Williams, Fish) and Behavioral and Community Health (Boekeloo, King-Marshall), School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park; Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Turpin).
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Evelyn C. King-Marshall, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park (all authors); Departments of Family Science (Williams, Fish) and Behavioral and Community Health (Boekeloo, King-Marshall), School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park; Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Turpin).
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Jessica N. Fish, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park (all authors); Departments of Family Science (Williams, Fish) and Behavioral and Community Health (Boekeloo, King-Marshall), School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park; Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Turpin).
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Notes

Send correspondence to Ms. Williams ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work was supported by the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; U48DP006382) and by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through the Maryland Population Research Center (P2CHD041041). Ms. Williams acknowledges support from the Southern Regional Education Board and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars program. The authors acknowledge Drs. Travis Hyams and Barbara Curbow for their contributions in study design and data management.The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NIH, or CDC.

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