Cultural Disparities In Latinx

The Latino community, from immigrating to United States born Latinos are often known to be depressed. Depression is a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest, it affects how the person feels, behaves and thinks. Many Latinos rely on their extended family, community, traditional healers, or churches for help during a health crisis. As a result, many Latinos with mental illnesses often go without professional mental treatment. But why is it that Latinos are so reluctant to receiving help? Sheila Dichoso states that, “there are only 29 Latino mental-health professionals for every 100,000 Latinos in the United States, compared to 173 non-Hispanic white providers

Underutilization and early termination of mental health services for Latinos in the U.S continues to be a concern for current research and practice in social work. A synthesis of current research demonstrates that there are several factors impacting access and utilization of mental health services for Latinos. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services (2001), although Latinos are at increased vulnerability for developing mental illness, they continue to be half as likely in comparison to whites to access mental health services. Low rates of utilization of mental health services among the Latino community can be associated to a variety of factors including socioeconomic factors, cultural variables, stigma, psychotherapeutic challenges, client-therapist interaction (Kouyoumdjian, Zamboanga, & Hansen, 2003). Mental health conditions can significantly impact and individual’s ability to function and achieve their highest potential, consideration of these factors is essential in order to address the needs of a vulnerable population, and support Latinos in accessing mental health services when needed. This learning brief will focus on exploring how client system factors specific to Latinos’ resources, culture and worldview are associated with the underutilization of services for Latinos and important implications for practitioners when providing treatment.

3. Differences in values and beliefs define a person's choice for mental and physical health care. “Because health care is a cultural construct, arising from beliefs about the nature of disease and the human body, cultural issues are actually central in the delivery of health services treatment and preventive interventions” (Office of Minority Health, 2005, p. 6). It is important to acknowledge that Esmeralda fits into two categories of minority because Esmeralda is a Latina. It is important to know that Hispanic women are less likely to make full use of many social services even when they are provided to them. Hispanics normally are family oriented and that means Esmeralda will probably want to involve her family in any treatment program she

Instead of seeking mental health services for emotional or psychological concern, Latinos tend to seek medical care services from a physician. Both (Gelman, 2005; Bedoya, 2014; Organista, 1995) portray Latinos favoring mental health services through primary care than a mental health care setting. Many Latinos misinterpret physical symptoms as a medical illness when, in fact, it may be due to psychological condition. It is not uncommon for Latinos to mainly present mental issues as physical complaints (González-Prendes, Hindo, & Pardo, 2011, p. 380). Similarly Kanter et al. (2008) states, “Depression in Latino immigrants with low acculturation often is characterized somatic complaints with less awareness and identification of psychological symptoms”

DUMC jointly particptaes in a research program with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to train Latinas in mental health coping

Sexual and social stigmas largely affect the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population. While many reports from the Institute of Medicine, Healthy People 2020 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognize a need to improve the quality of health care, barriers still remain. LGBT patients face legal discrimination, especially with insurance, a lack of social programs, and limited access to providers competent in LGBT health care. Although the Affordable Care Act increased access to care for LGBT patients, unless these patients feel understood by providers and develop trust in the system, they are not likely to utilize care. Healthcare providers need to recognize how these vulnerabilities, as well as persistent racism and stigma linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, make the healthcare needs of LGBT patients more challenging than the general population. Healthcare providers also need to promote cultural competence within this population and broaden their clinical lens to include health promotion, in addition to addressing concerns mentioned above within the population. Additionally, medical and nursing schools need to ensure that future providers are adequately educated by including information about this population in the curriculum.

Working with my field supervisor I noticed that she is aware of the cultural diversity of the population that receives mental health therapy at Rincon Family Services. Everyone is different. Consequently, the mental health services that are provided in this facility, are targeted to the Hispanic population, the African-American and also the Caucasian population. During the session with a Hispanic client our empathy and personal awareness about how her culture, family traditions, her parent’s education, and the influence from her peers motivated her to break the relationship with her family, was always present when assessing her case. The client reported, she broke the rules and norms of her family when she started running away from home, having

As we can see from Stephanie’s cultural immersion experience, it is very easy for people to have social biases and stereotypes of minority groups. As Stephanie learned, often times these beliefs are inaccurate and lack validity. Stephanie’s experience shows that the Latino population is one that is hard working, hospitable, and has a strong sense of family and community. What we take away from this experience is that counselors need to educate themselves as much as possible on the minority populations they will be working with. As counselors educate themselves about these minority groups, they will need to adjust their treatment methods and interventions to accommodate the world views of their clients. Counselors who do this will be better

LGBTQ people continue to face unique health and healthcare disparities that stem from discrimination and stigma, which results in sexual orientation and gender identity not being collected in most health

There is extensive research on health disparities facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities, however it is only recently being noted that transgender and gender non-conforming people are even a marginalized group within the LGBT community, and are at risk to experience the worst disparities of any other group (Hanssmann, Morrison, Russian, Shiu-Thornton, & Bowen, 2010, p. 241). Their literature review provided a clear and urgent need for their proposed cultural competency training program. The authors hypothesized that cultural competency training (CCT) would be associated with improvement in knowledge about clinical and cultural competence regarding the care of transgender

Prejudices and discriminations are based on sexual orientation tend to increase the likelihood of depression, stress, and a decrease in mental health state. Within the paper, it discusses how the discrimination that many people within the LGBT community experience affects the likelihood of the person developing issues with their mental health; such as, depression or anxiety. The paper discussed the constant fear of discrimination could have been the cause of the mental disorders. I evaluated that with archival research, the stressors associated with the difficulties of being LGBT, were likely causes of depression and anxiety

Mental health and low self-esteem is not new to the gay and MSM population. In this study, gay and MSM reported an increased vulnerability to low self-esteem and low confidence because of stigma and discrimination from

The article that was chosen for this assignment is titled, The associations of sexual and ethnic-racial identity commitment, conflicts in allegiances, and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual racial and ethnic minority adults. It has been confirmed throughout the literature that members of the LGBTQ community are at a greater risk for mental health problems compared to heterosexual individuals (Santos & VanDaalen, 2016). Also, past research has discovered members of racial/ethnic minority groups are at an increased risk for mental health issues compared to the racial/ethnic majority. Experiences of discrimination are related to numerous types of psychological distress for both populations. Even though studies have been conducted on both of these groups separately, there is not a great representation of investigations focusing on racial/ethnic minorities within the LGBTQ community (Santos & VanDaalen, 2016).

Although awareness surrounding specialized health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients has significantly increased since the AIDS epidemic that began in the mid-to-late 70s, it is still not adequate to provide proper care. This is apparent from, the fact that LGBT youth have a higher risk of attempting suicide, lesbians are at higher risk of developing cancers, especially breast cancer; and gay men and transgender individuals are at higher risk of HIV and other STDs (Substance Abuse). As a member of the LGBT community who is also an aspiring physician, I have a special interest and passion for this topic. Improving health education for the queer community is a cause that is best addressed through civic engagement because it is a complex issue in which queer populations are typically unable to navigate the health care system alone and medical professionals are often ignorant to special concerns that the community has. According to a study done by Lambda Legal in 2010, 56 percent of LGB and 70 percent of transgender respondents reported experiencing discrimination while receiving care. In this study discrimination was defined as having an experience where a health care professional refused to touch them or used excessive precautions, verbally or physically abused them, blamed them for their health status, or refused the needed care altogether.

“Mediation analyses showed that perceived discrimination accounted for increased depressive symptomology among LGBT males and females and accounted for an elevated risk of self-harm and suicide ideation among LGBT males. Perceived discrimination is a likely contributor to emotional distress among LGBT youth.” (Joanna Almeida)