Analyzing Health Inequalities & Diversity in UK Mental Healthcare

This essay delves into the critical issue of health inequalities and diversity within the UK's mental health landscape. It examines the avoidable and unfair differences in well-being among various groups, particularly focusing on those facing mental health challenges. The essay discusses relevant equality and diversity legislation, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Mental Health Act 1983, and their application within health and social care sectors. Furthermore, it explores practical approaches that healthcare practitioners can implement to prevent disparities and promote mental well-being among diverse populations, highlighting the importance of cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic theory, and building resilience to overcome mental health issues effectively.

Essay

Table of Content.
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Discuss inequalities in health and well-being for the dimension of diversity with help of
theories.........................................................................................................................................1
Apply Equality and Diversity policy and legislation to the health and social care sector...........2
Approaches that practitioners can implement to prevent disparities for the chosen dimension of
diversity........................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The term diversity is generally is a standard, the mainstream term which is specifically
used in a broad range of the well-being research settings. The rise of diversity is generally an
acceptable term within the study and the policy is mainly a part of an ongoing development. In
this, the dimensions of diversity can involve the beliefs, marital status, physical and mental
health, education, ethnicity and many more. Here, for the essay the chosen topic is diversity of
mental health within UK. By understanding such dimensions of diversity within UK can help the
care providers to effectively help the people who are having the mental health issues or disability
to improve their well-being. It is known that people living in poor health conditions, gender,
racial/ethnic more frequently suffer from various mental well-being issues or disabilities due to
various elements consisting inaccessibility of high quality of mental well-being care services, the
cultural stigma generally surrounding the mental well-being care, discrimination as well as an
entirely lack of awareness about the mental well-being. The discrimination can be effectively
prevented within societies by having and implementing an equal opportunity policies as well as
anti-harrasment and the bullying policies, and effectively reviewing those policies as an
appropriate. Having diversities is also essential at rethink the mental disorders, the diversities can
provide a person a deeper understanding of the world as well as the needs of the vulnerable
people. In this essay, it will cover the health and well-being inequalities among people within
UK. In addition, there is a discussion about the equality and diversity legislations such as The
Mental Health Act 1983 and Equality Act 2010 and policies that are quite relevant to health and
social care sectors. Furthermore, there is also a discussion about the effective approaches of the
healthcare professionals that can be implemented to prevent the inequalities of mental health
among people across UK (de Bell et. al., 2020).
MAIN BODY
Discuss inequalities in health and well-being for the dimension of diversity with help of theories.
The term health disparities are generally the avoidable, unfair as well as a systematic
difference within well-being among multiple groups of the people. These are about the
differences in the status of the well-being of a person. In this, the term can also be used to refer
to the differences within the care which the vulnerable people can receive as well as the possible
opportunities which they have to lead a healthy living, both of that can specifically contribute
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towards their well-being status. The serious mental well-being disorders can be described by a
person over 18 generally involve a identifiable mental behaviours or an emotional illness which
can cause critical functional damage which considerably impede within limits one or leading life
actions. In this, the well-being disparities can however include the differences in the well-being
status, such as the life expectancy and the prevalence of well-being conditions, access to the care
such as availability of treatments, the behavioural risks to the well-being such as increasing the
smoking rates of people and many more (Cobbinah and Lewis, 2018). there are multiple
legislations that are used to prevent inequalities such as The Discrimination Act, it can
effectively protect a person from a particular harm. In this, the prohibition of discrimination
generally means that a worker cannot discriminate against a worker, a school system cannot
discriminate against the staff and pupils and many more. A persistent exposure to discrimination
can specifically lead to a person to internalize the stigma which is more directly against them,
having reduced self esteem and a reduced well-being. In this, there are various theoretical
approaches of the mental health that can help a person to overcome the effects of mental illness.
The theoretical approaches of the mental health can include psychodynamic theory, cognitive
theory, behavioural theory, humanistic theory and biological theory. Some of the explanation of
theories are provided below:
Psychodynamic theory: The psychodynamic therapists can view the behaviour as an outcome of
the experiences. The theory can help the people to effectively understand their unconscious and
emotional patterns of the behaviour. In addition to this, by discussing through such behavioural
and emotional components with the care provider, the patient can effectively come to know
themselves much better as well as can make improved decisions for themselves as well.
Cognitive theory: The cognitive theory mainly concentrate on assisting an individual in altering
the destructive thoughts as well as behaviours. The cognitive theory is generally a type of
psychotherapy which can help a person to determine as well as manage the issues. The approach
is generally a goal oriented and more frequently involved in the homework. Such type of
homework can help to strengthen the in-person sessions. In this, processing of information is
generally the common description of such mental process. In other words, the cognitive theory is
that how a person can feel is mainly identified by the pathway in which they can interpret the
conditions instead of the situations such as a patient who is depressed are generally considered to
be excessively negative in their understanding of the events (Kidd et. al., 2021).
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Apply Equality and Diversity policy and legislation to the health and social care sector.
The concept of equality within the health and social care sectors, it can means ensuring
every people in the settings that has a equal chances, regardless of their capabilities, their
lifestyle and many more. In this diversity here means appreciating the disparities among the
people as well as treating their beliefs, lifestyles, values, culture and many more. There is given a
Equality Act 2010 in correspondence with mental health. The Act involve aim to effectively
protect the people with having disabilities as well as can prevent the disability discrimination. In
this, the Equality Act can effectively permits the greater scope for the positive actions, and can
provide the expressedly for the discrimination that is based on more than one features and
reinforces the disability protections. The Act can specifically represents an attempt to effectively
improves the legal protection for individuals having disabilities, more particularly the mental
disorder. In addition to this, there is also a legislation such as The Mental Health Act 1983 can
cover the care assessment treatment as well as the rights of the people with having mental well-
being disorders. The people who are generally detained under the Mental Health Act can require
an urgent care treatment for the mental well-being illness and are specifically at a developing
risk of harm to themselves or others (Aknin et. al., 2021).
Approaches that practitioners can implement to prevent disparities for the chosen dimension of
diversity.
Both the mental and behavioural well-being is generally a critical and frequently under-
addressed matter in both ethnic and racial minority communities. In this, enhancing the well-
being of a person within the most disadvantaged communities can specifically lead to a reduced
taxes and a well-being care costs. In this, the inequalities within well-being can particularly lead
to an unnecessary well-being care costs which can enhance the economical burdens on the
people who generally pay taxes via the form of a Medicaid and an emergency room use. In
context with National Health Service, they have enhanced the care services for the practices in
order to address the requirements of the vulnerable people. In this, there has been enhancement
of a lay link care worker role that can link the care practices and the patients with the community
resources for the well-being. In this, the empowerment for trainings as well as the leadership
improvement within and among the care practices and can associate to the local planning as well.
The mental health illness can be effectively overcome by implementing the cognitive
behavioural therapy or theory, the psychodynamic theory to a person who has mental issues. The
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healthcare professionals can effectively build self-esteem of a person and resilience so that their
stress can be effectively overcome and their symptoms can be under control (Marazziti et. al.,
2021).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that the well-being disparities are generally
unavoidable as well as an unfair differences within the well-being status among the groups of
people or within community. It is identified that there are number of cases of mental health
which can create a severe well-being issues among and affecting their lives more adversely. The
mental well-being and health can make an essential impact over the well-being behaviours as
well as their physical health. The health is generally measured in various manner consisting a
person can feel anxious, satisfied and happy with their lives. In addition to this, from the
discussion it is identified that there are the theories such as cognitive, behavioural, biological,
psychodynamic theories which can positively help the people to overcome their mental illness
positively.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Aknin, L.B., De Neve, J.E., Dunn, E.W., Fancourt, D.E., Goldberg, E., Helliwell, J.F., Jones,
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the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: A review and recommendations for moving
forward. Perspectives on Psychological Science, p.17456916211029964.
Cobbinah, S.S. and Lewis, J., 2018. Racism & Health: A public health perspective on racial
discrimination. Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 24(5), pp.995-998.
de Bell, S., White, M., Griffiths, A., Darlow, A., Taylor, T., Wheeler, B. and Lovell, R., 2020.
Spending time in the garden is positively associated with health and wellbeing: Results
from a national survey in England. Landscape and urban planning, 200, p.103836.
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Kidd, J.D., Jackman, K.B., Barucco, R., Dworkin, J.D., Dolezal, C., Navalta, T.V., Belloir, J. and
Bockting, W.O., 2021. Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
mental health of transgender and gender nonbinary individuals engaged in a longitudinal
cohort study. Journal of Homosexuality, 68(4), pp.592-611.
King, T.L., Kavanagh, A., Scovelle, A.J. and Milner, A., 2020. Associations between gender
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MacKinnon, K.R., Grace, D., Ng, S.L., Sicchia, S.R. and Ross, L.E., 2020. “I don’t think they
thought I was ready”: How pre-transition assessments create care inequities for trans
people with complex mental health in Canada. International Journal of Mental
Health, 49(1), pp.56-80.
Marazziti, D., Avella, M.T., Mucci, N., Della Vecchia, A., Ivaldi, T., Palermo, S. and Mucci, F.,
2021. Impact of economic crisis on mental health: a 10-year challenge. CNS
spectrums, 26(1), pp.7-13.
Shi, L., Lu, Z.A., Que, J.Y., Huang, X.L., Liu, L., Ran, M.S., Gong, Y.M., Yuan, K., Yan, W.,
Sun, Y.K. and Shi, J., 2020. Prevalence of and risk factors associated with mental health
symptoms among the general population in China during the coronavirus disease 2019
pandemic. JAMA network open, 3(7), pp.e2014053-e2014053.
Suleman, S., Garber, K.D. and Rutkow, L., 2018. Xenophobia as a determinant of health: an
integrative review. Journal of Public Health Policy, 39(4), pp.407-423.
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