How Can Minorities’ Access to Care Be Improved?

In September U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., issued a report titled “Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity,” which identifies barriers to effective mental health care faced by ethnic and racial minority populations. Here are the recommendations in the report:

• Continue to expand the science base of mental illness. In particular, work to resolve uncertainties about the extent of mental illness among different racial and ethnic groups. Examine how factors such as acculturation, stigma, racism, and spirituality provide protection from, or risk for, mental illness. Consider the efficacy of guideline- or other evidence-based treatments.

• Improve access to treatment. Bring mental health services to where people are. Integrate mental health care and primary care. Improve language access. Coordinate care to vulnerable, high-need groups.

• Reduce barriers to mental health care. Work to make services appropriate for minorities and promote mental health coverage for uninsured Americans. Establish parity between mental health coverage and other health care coverage.

• Improve quality of mental health care. Deliver effective treatments based on evidence-based professional guidelines. Individualize treatment in the clinical setting to each patient’s age, gender, race, ethnicity, and culture. Continue research on “culturally competent” service models.

• Support capacity development. Develop training programs and funding sources that expand the number of minorities among mental health professionals, researchers, administrators, and policymakers. Promote and develop leadership from within the community in which a mental health care sytsem is located.

• Promote mental health. Work to reduce adverse conditions such as poverty and racism. Build on community strengths such as spirituality, ethnic identity, traditional values, and local leadership. Strengthen families so they can function at their full potential.