Mental Health Disparity Assessment 2022

Running Head: MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
Part B
Sociocultural context
Depression is the world's number one source of disability. Hispanic women have a
higher risk of depression relative to Caucasian and African American women. This is due in
part to multiple social health determinants impacting people, households, aggregates, and
societies. The identified subpopulation of Hispanic women often face a lot of mental health
disparity with respect to their depression and mental health status (Holden et al., 2014). This
disparity is due to the lack of resources and knowledge among the women. Along with this,
there is a lot of stigma that is associated with the cultural stigma. There is also a lot of stigma
that is related to the mental health doctors who treat the mental illness among the Hispanic
women. Thus, there is lack of cultural competence among the healthcare professionals for the
treatment of mental health disorder (Eaton, 2014).
There are a number of sociocultural factors which suggest that the individuals have a
low economic and educational status. Along with this, there are a number of historical factors
that are relatable for the rising of mental health disparity among the Hispanic women. The
cultural differences can cause the difference in the clinical setting that can lead to the
disparity in the cultural setting (Sabri et al., 2013). It can be due to the differences in the
communication and the lack of reporting incidences in the healthcare setting. Culture
influences the way in which the people impart meaning to their illness or sickness. The
patient who receive mental health treatment might feel differentiated in the way of receiving
treatment. This creates a lot of problem and sometimes creates a gap between the healthcare
providers and the consumers. This is not beneficial for the patients as that limits their chances
of receiving quality of care (Silveira et al., 2014).

2MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
The culture of the clinicians and the healthcare service system is also a factor for
influencing the clinical setting. These factors usually shape the interaction of the healthcare
consumer and the mental care patient via the treatment, diagnosis, financing of the services
and the organization where they receive the care (Silveira et al., 2014). It is important to feel
the importance of culture and the beliefs while the treatment of the patients who are
immigrants. It is understood only when the individuals are stranded in the
miscommunications and in the treatment process that makes them feel isolated whenever they
seek care for deterioration in the state of mental health (Dillon, Hussain, Loxton & Rahman,
2013).
Culture is referred to as the set of beliefs and values and norms of the patients as well
as the clinician that might be same or different. When the culture influences the society at a
larger scale then those changes cannot be demarcated easily. Thus, it is stated in a number of
research that culture and social contexts not only help in the determination of the health status
while also in the shaping of the mental health minorities and the services that is being used by
them (Weaver et al., 2015). Hence, the cultural misunderstandings between the patients and
the clinicians, the biasness and the fragmentation of the mental health facilities that prevent
the minorities from using the mental health services and the utilization and access of those
services.
The social and the cultural factors impart significantly to the mental illness and that
can be different in the cases of different mental illness. It is thus the accumulation of the
biological, social, cultural and psychological factors (De Oliveira et al., 2017). The role of
any of these factors can be strong or weak depending on the disorder. These factors are much
more significant in case of depression. The studies highlight the fact that the social and the
cultural factors that includes poverty, violence, and stressful environments are important part
of the factors that cause depression. There are also certain factors like race and ethnicity

3MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
including the socioeconomic state of a country increase the rate of the exposure of stress
factors that cause depression (Hawkins et al., 2015).
Assessment of the mental disorder
For the assessment of the mental disorder there has to be analysis of the individual
factors that includes cultural, social, political, and interpersonal and the environmental factors
(Delara, 2016). This will help in the assessment of the condition of the Hispanic women and
the mental health disparity that is being faced by them. The barrier to the treatment of the
depression among the Hispanic women is largely due to the persistence of stigma that is
perpetuated by the inadequate literacy about disease and the associated cultural factors.
Hispanic women are supposed access the healthcare through the primary healthcare centre
that makes it ideal for providing the mental health interventions (Alarcón et al., 2016).
The assessment of the mental health status of an individual or particularly the
Hispanic women depends on the mental health education. It consists of the knowledge of the
mental health disorder and the associated stigma (Eaton, 2014). These factors act as a barrier
to the treatment of the depression among the Hispanic women that include the persistent
stigma that is basically perpetuated through the inadequate literacy of the disease and the
cultural factors. As the Hispanic women are less likely to get the treatment through the
primary healthcare provider that makes it an ideal setting for the early interventions mental
health (Alarcón et al., 2016). The assessment of the mental health status is done in a better
way by the social workers in the places where the access of the healthcare services are not
available. Thus it is important that the Hispanic women should be part of the various
programs that are being organized by the social workers. This includes the use of the
complementary therapies in which the Americans from different backgrounds should turn to
other healthcare facilities in order to complement the mental health care from the mainstream

4MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
sources. Thus the integration of the healthcare services is successful and hence the mental
healthcare providers should be aware of the alternative health services (Satcher, 2014).
The primary healthcare settings are the pathway for the identification and the
diagnosis of the undiagnosed mental health disorders especially for the Hispanic women with
the comorbid physical health conditions (De Oliveira et al., 2017). Health literacy is usually
related to the use of the public health amenities and the capacity of the individual to
completely understand the information that is being related to the health condition. In the
healthcare settings it is important that the healthcare professionals clearly understand the
literacy level of the patient in order to deliver the effective services and also to prevent the
negative health outcomes of the patients (Weaver et al., 2015).
Research has highlighted the fact that the Hispanic women also face a lot of physical
and sexual abuse that creates the mental stress and affects their mental health status. If the
depression is not treated at the right time then it can cause the patient certain risky behaviour
like substance abuse, suicide, and emotional suffering (Sabri et al., 2013). If the Hispanic
women suffer from depression at the time of pregnancy then it would have adverse effects on
the safety, growth and development of the child. The assessment of all the healthcare
amenities are due to the inability to access the health insurance that becomes a strong barrier
in comparison to language, ethnicity and income (Assari, 2017). Thus, it is important that the
social worker addresses the needs and demands of all the Hispanic women who face mental
health disparity while they try to access the healthcare services.

5MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
References
Alarcón, R. D., Parekh, A., Wainberg, M. L., Duarte, C. S., Araya, R., & Oquendo, M. A.
(2016). Hispanic immigrants in the USA: social and mental health perspectives. The
Lancet Psychiatry, 3(9), 860-870.
Assari, S. (2017). Social Determinants of depression: The intersections of race, gender, and
socioeconomic status. Brain sciences, 7(12), 156.
De Oliveira, G., Cianelli, R., Gattamorta, K., Kowalski, N., & Peragallo, N. (2017). Social
determinants of depression among Hispanic women. Journal of the American
Psychiatric Nurses Association, 23(1), 28-36.
Delara, M. (2016). Social determinants of immigrant women’s mental health. Advances in
Public Health, 2016.
Dillon, G., Hussain, R., Loxton, D., & Rahman, S. (2013). Mental and physical health and
intimate partner violence against women: A review of the literature. International
journal of family medicine, 2013.
Eaton, N. R. (2014). Transdiagnostic psychopathology factors and sexual minority mental
health: evidence of disparities and associations with minority stressors. Psychology of
sexual orientation and gender diversity, 1(3), 244.
Hawkins, M., Hosker, M., Marcus, B. H., Rosal, M. C., Braun, B., Stanek III, E. J., ... &
Chasan‐Taber, L. (2015). A pregnancy lifestyle intervention to prevent gestational
diabetes risk factors in overweight Hispanic women: a feasibility randomized
controlled trial. Diabetic Medicine, 32(1), 108-115.

6MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITY
Holden, K., McGregor, B., Thandi, P., Fresh, E., Sheats, K., Belton, A., ... & Satcher, D.
(2014). Toward culturally centered integrative care for addressing mental health
disparities among ethnic minorities. Psychological Services, 11(4), 357.
Sabri, B., Bolyard, R., McFadgion, A. L., Stockman, J. K., Lucea, M. B., Callwood, G. B., ...
& Campbell, J. C. (2013). Intimate partner violence, depression, PTSD, and use of
mental health resources among ethnically diverse Black women. Social work in
health care, 52(4), 351-369.
Satcher, D. (2014). Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity: A Supplement to Mental
Health—A Report of the Surgeon General. 2001. Washington, DC: US Department of
Healthy and Human Services.[PubMed].
Silveira, M. L., Whitcomb, B. W., Pekow, P., Braun, B., Markenson, G., Dole, N., ... &
Chasan-Taber, L. (2014). Perceived psychosocial stress and glucose intolerance
among pregnant Hispanic women. Diabetes & metabolism, 40(6), 466-475.
Weaver, A., Himle, J. A., Taylor, R. J., Matusko, N. N., & Abelson, J. M. (2015). Urban vs
rural residence and the prevalence of depression and mood disorder among African
American women and non-Hispanic white women. JAMA psychiatry, 72(6), 576-583.