Cultural Barriers And Disparities

With the increasing immigrant population a third barrier affecting access to health care is a cultural barrier. Culture barriers can include values and beliefs, language and race and ethnicity. Health beliefs and behavior can become a barrier when patients decide not to seek medical treatment and instead turn to home remedies and healers when treating illnesses. Approximately 10% of Americans speak a language other than English and can be classified ad being limited in their proficiency. For these patients language becomes a barrier and they are less likely to receive optimal medical treatment (Flores, 2006). Horton and Johnson (2010) stress the importance of communication in reducing disparities and increasing the trust of patients in the health care system. As reported by the American College of Physicians, evidence reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to receive inferior care when compared with non-minorities. This occurs even when minorities have access to insurance and adequate income (Racial and ethnic disparities in health care, 2010).

Asian ethnicity, an ethnic group growing faster than any other in this country today (Lee, Martins, & Lee, 2015). Unfortunately, many Asian Americans perceive a mental illness diagnosis as shameful (Cheon and Chiao, 2012). As a result, many who suffer from mental illness in this community are often sequestered and do not receive mental health care services (Cheon and Chiao, 2012). As there are many different subgroups within Asian American culture, stigma, use of mental health services, access to care, and compliance rates tend to vary (Purnell, 2013). For instance, Chinese Americans view mental illness as more of a

Currently, 21.4% of youth aged 13-18 and 13% of children aged 8-15 experience significant mental health problems in the U.S. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015). Also, mental health problems are currently extremely stigmatizing in most Asian cultures, and compared to Caucasians, Asian Americans exhibit significantly high levels of mental health problems (Young et al., 2010). In general, depressive symptoms are associated with major developmental impairments that may persist a child’s later life. Thus, experiencing various stressors of Asian American immigrant children during their before and after immigration processes impact their psychological well-being.

In a perfect world, race, ethnicity and culture would have no negative effect on the medical care we receive, yet problems do arise and it affects the quality of care the patient receives. Language barrier, poor socioeconomic status, and poor health literacy also contribute to health care disparity. For Lia, it was more than her skin color, it was all of the above, her parents did not speak English and they were illiterate. They had trouble understanding the American healthcare system, had trouble or little interest in adjusting to or understanding the American culture. They didn’t work, which in addition to cross cultural misunderstanding, helped contribute to animosity between the Hmong and the host community, because some in the Merced area did not like or appreciate the fact that some Hmong did not work and relied on welfare to make ends meet. All these factors, contributed to the poor quality of

Across the country, a steady increase has been noted in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments for psychiatric complaints (Zun, 2014). Patients also attempt to use their primary care doctors to treat their mental illnesses. The mental health care options for these patients are extremely limited, especially for minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanics. One out of four adults in America suffers from some form of mental illness, yet only one out of three of those affected receives treatment (Safran, 2009). Furthermore, patients are routinely misdiagnosed, receive poor quality of care, receive care from providers who have no understanding of their cultures and values, or are not even able to receive care in the first place (Sanchez, 2012).

This may seem beneficial for Asian Americans at first; however, the model minority myth is actually detrimental to many segments of the population. This is especially true of recent immigrant Asian Americans. These individuals become deprived of resources because they are expected to have the same level of success as Asian Americans who have already lived in the U.S. for generations. Even in academia, the model minority myth causes Asian Americans to be understudied and misunderstood. Because Asian Americans are perceived to be successful and well-integrated individuals, Lee et al. (2001) show how there is “not enough research” that investigates Asian American mental health (160). In other words, even though some current data show higher rates of mental illness among Asian Americans, the model minority myth has distracted scholars from studying Asian American mental health. Thus, to ensure that Asian

The mandatory imprisonment policies written for the judicial system are creating disparity of minority inmate population primarily due to non-violent drug crimes and the unjust mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Mental health illnesses affect everyone. It is highly prevalent affecting people of all ages, gender, cultures, and social groups. Attitudes towards mental health illnesses vary among individuals and often are highly influenced by the various cultures that the individuals identify with. Culture as a social concept can be defined as a set of norms, values, behaviours, and beliefs that are common and shared amongst a group of individuals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Culture can be applicable to groups like Asians and Americans but also to groups of shared norms, beliefs, and values established within professions such as the culture of patients and practitioners. Culture provides these groups with structure and context to understanding their society and the world as a whole. Culture influence a wide range of aspects of mental health, including how mental health is perceived by the patient, how the patient will experience mental health stigma, and how they cope with symptoms of mental health illness. Additionally, these cultural influences impact the relationship between the patient and the practitioner in a number of ways.

Racial and ethnic health disparities plays a significant role when it comes to those living in a what is considered a low- economic community because people are more susceptible to poor air quality, high blood pressure related to stress, and violence. Inaccessibility to healthy foods forces people to have to eat unhealthy and struggle with the risk that can lead to obesity or high cholesterol down the road (Noonan, A et al ,2016). Also social racism with having limited income, and education can cause people to act out in a negative way due to being frustrated and can cause one to act out in a violent way which can cause a spike in crime. So much can be done to strengthen low economic communities such as re-opening schools in the neighborhood,

Eventually from socioeconomic disparities, a factor affects low income students from priming them from college is the maintenance of the school. The lower the maintenance of the school like poor hygiene and change of teacher will affect the students highly. It may come to a surprise that hygiene affects the mentally of the low-income school but it does because it distracts them. In the encyclopedia, Multicultural & Diversity Education, it describes that the many disparities that low-income schools face when being in the environment they are in. For example, they provide the example of “Cockroaches, rats, and and other vermin that can be found in the schools” (Multicultural & Diversity Education 119) when attending low-income schools because

Asian American parents believe in keeping many of their issue within the family which makes them reluctant to seek services. Because of this culture believe, Asian Americans utilize mental health services at a lower rate compared to other Americans (Sue, 1994). Socially sanctioned claims concerning Asian American's social character or integrity helps to explain why they don't utilize services as often as other Americans. Counselors can work to lessen the effects of racism and discrimination that have impacted Americans by expanding their knowledge of discriminations experiences of Asian American's and

“Americans are constantly bombarded by depictions of race relations in the media, which suggest that discriminatory racial barriers have been dismantled.” (Gallagher). We as a society in America think that everything is over that discrimination is done with. Race is something that is inevitable, but how we decide to perceive it is our choice, we see it as something not important and that race does not matter for a long time. So why are Indians to this day segregated from everyone else in reservations. With separate government still living within the United States, because they were seen as savages and not as humans. And why did the Irish and Japanese work so hard to become Americans. They wanted to look or at least be treated like white people

All cultures have differnet beliefs about mental health and how they precieve what causes the disorders, how it can be cured or treated, and who should be involved in the process. Western coutries such as the United States, which see mental disorders as a result of natural scientific phenomena, advocate medical treatments that combat neurological imbalance and/or the use technology to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. Other countries believe that mental illness is the result of supernatural phenomena and promote prayer or other spiritual interventions that counter the presumed disfavor of powerful forces. Some cultures might ignore seeking professional medical help because they believe

Culture has a great effect on attitudes toward therapy. According to the National Institution of Mental Health each individual or groups of people bring a variation of beliefs to the therapeutic setting such as communicating what issues to report, types of coping styles, social support, and cultural stigma towards mental health. More often it is culture that bears on whether or not an individual will seek help. For example there is a widespread tendency to stigmatize mental illness in Asian countries. People with mental illness are considered dangerous and create social distance and

To test my hypothesis, I utilize five separate research sources: sociocultural barriers data, causes of FGM, descriptive data from international rights sources, the prevalence of FGM in different countries, and data illustrating a decrease of FGM from 1985 to today. Though the practice has continued for many years, evidence suggests that FGM can end in one generation. To begin, my data analyzes psychological reasons behind FGM. It is performed in order to control women’s sexuality, essentially thought as to make sure of virginity before marriage and fidelity afterward. According to WHO, FGM can be classified into four types (WHO 2008). The majority of FGM cases (80%) are type 1 or type 2, with 15% comprising type 3 or infibulation (Leye et al 2008). Type 3 has the highest abnormal affect and significant negative long-term heath consequences (Figure 1). There is further research to be done concerning Type 4 as it pertains to other harmful procedures done to female genitalia. For example, scraping stretching, piercing, and cauterizing the genitalia area (Daughters of Eve 2010). The independent variable is the specific international conversations; while the dependent variable is represented by the actual procedure of FGM and its possible reduction around the globe.