Minority voices: Research into the access and acceptability of ... - MMC

! Concerns about the provision of mental health services for Black andminority ethnic communitiesSince 2001 awareness of the particular difficulties facing Black and minority ethniccommunities has been considerably heightened through the publication of a number ofimportant reports and consultation documents, including:• Inside Outside published by NIMHE 14 (see initial quote above) which also states: “Atpresent, there is no national strategy or policy specifically intended to improve eitherthe mental health of minority ethnic groups or their care and treatment within mentalhealth services. Previous approaches taken to address these problems have been eitherfragmented or selective. As a result, the ‘ethnicity agenda’ within mental healthservices has tended to become either marginalised or ignored.”• Breaking the Circles of Fear by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health which highlightsthat “the care pathways of Black people are problematic and influence the nature andoutcome of treatment and the willingness of these communities to engage withmainstream services.” 15 This document also notes “the need for changes to mentalhealth care and treatment of Black people is widely recognised and long overdue. Thereis compelling research and statistical evidence which shows that Black and AfricanCaribbean people are over-represented in mental health services and experience pooreroutcomes than their White counterparts.”• The FOCUS report, which highlights the importance of recognising “the diversity ofindividual needs and cultures” if we are to truly understand and address the needs ofminority ethnic groups. 16 This work also draws attention to the complexities of definingethnicity, the limitations of census data, and the paucity of epidemiological research inthe field of ethnicity and mental health in children and adolescents.• Delivering Race Equality: a Framework for Action, which states in the foreword:“improving the provision of services to Black and minority ethnic communities, andensuring that those communities are not only informed, but also willing and able towork in partnership with services, are not merely matters of fulfilling statutoryobligations, important though those are. They are essential if we are to achieve ouroverall goals in modernising the health and social care system.” 17This report sets out the following - that people from Black and minority ethnic communities aremore likely to experience:• Problems in accessing services• Lower satisfaction with services• Cultural and language barriers in assessments• Lower GP involvement in care• Inadequate community-based crisis care• Lower involvement of service users, family and carers• Inadequate support for Black community initiatives• An aversive pathway into mental health services:- higher compulsory admission rates to hospital- greater involvement in legal system and forensic settings- higher rates of transfer to medium and high secure facilities• Higher voluntary admission rates to hospital• Lower satisfaction with hospital care• Lower effectiveness of hospital treatment• Longer stays in hospital• Less likelihood of having social care/psychological needs addressed within careplanning/treatment processes• More severe and coercive treatments• Lower access to talking treatments/therapiesMinority Voices Research Report8