Committee Recommends Strategies To Improve MH Care of Minorities
An APA committee has developed a detailed report describing ways in which APA could respond to a U.S. surgeon general's report that decried the state of mental health care for many minority groups in the United States. At last month's Board of Trustees meeting in Arlington, Va., the committee presented its final report, which was accepted by the Board.
The report of the APA Steering Committee to Reduce Disparities in Access to Psychiatric Care is designed to provide guidance and recommendations to the Board, Assembly, and APA committees as they develop responses to the 2001 report by Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., titled Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.
Ultimately, the steering committee's action plan should result in greater satisfaction of APA members in their professional roles, improvements in the quality of minority patients' mental health care and satisfaction with that care, and greater help for clinicians as they make decisions about appropriate care for each patient, said committee chair Altha Stewart, M.D.
The committee grouped its recommendations into four areas—expanding the science base; supporting education, training, and career development; enhancing access and reducing barriers to mental health care; and promoting mental health through collaboration and advocacy.
Regarding expansion of the science base, the committee recommends
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studying issues related to the misdiagnosis of mental disorders in racial and ethnic minorities,
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revising journal policies to urge more consideration of race, culture, and ethnicity, and
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having APA components conduct more research on racial and ethnic disparities in prescribing practices, responses to psychotropic medications, and cost-effectiveness of medications.
To better support education and training, the committee urges
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increasing cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence at all APA levels,
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expanding efforts to recruit minority groups into psychiatry, and
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increasing collaborative work with allied organizations of racial and ethnic minority psychiatrists.
Access and barriers to care are a particularly stubborn problem for minority patients, and the committee recommends
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promoting development of cost-effective, evidence-informed, culturally competent mental health services,
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developing a national effort that assists district branches working on funding or regulatory issues,
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advocating for use of creative strategies to recruit to and retain psychiatrists in underserved areas, and
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expanding the work of the National Partnership for Workplace Mental Health to include issues that can reduce disparities in care.
In the fourth area, promoting mental health through collaboration and advocacy, the committee calls on APA to
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convene and lead collaborative efforts with professional, family, and advocacy organizations,
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expand the role of the Department of Government Relations in working with coalitions to assure enforcement of laws and regulations that bar discrimination against those with mental illness, especially those of minority groups, and
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work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to influence priorities regarding resource allocation for those with mental illness.▪
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Published online: 21 January 2005
Published in print: January 21, 2005
Notes
APA now has a roadmap that may help it play a role in reducing the disparities in access and quality that often characterize mental health care for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.
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