Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Theoretical background
- 1 Cultural psychiatry in historical perspective
- 2 Anthropology and psychiatry: the contemporary convergence
- 3 Suicide, violence and culture
- 4 Psychology and cultural psychiatry
- 5 Spirituality and cultural psychiatry
- 6 Culture, ethnicity and biological psychiatry
- 7 Ethnic inequalities and cultural capability framework in mental healthcare
- Part II Culture and mental health
- Part III Culture and mental disorders
- Part IV Theoretical aspects of management
- Part V Management with special groups
- Part VI Cultural research and training
- Cultural psychiatry: the past and the future
- Index
- References
7 - Ethnic inequalities and cultural capability framework in mental healthcare
from Part I - Theoretical background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Theoretical background
- 1 Cultural psychiatry in historical perspective
- 2 Anthropology and psychiatry: the contemporary convergence
- 3 Suicide, violence and culture
- 4 Psychology and cultural psychiatry
- 5 Spirituality and cultural psychiatry
- 6 Culture, ethnicity and biological psychiatry
- 7 Ethnic inequalities and cultural capability framework in mental healthcare
- Part II Culture and mental health
- Part III Culture and mental disorders
- Part IV Theoretical aspects of management
- Part V Management with special groups
- Part VI Cultural research and training
- Cultural psychiatry: the past and the future
- Index
- References
Summary
EDITORS' INTRODUCTION
There is considerable evidence in literature, as has been shown consistently in this volume, that rates of some types of mental illness are higher in black and ethnic minority groups when compared with others. This has been attributed to a number of reasons, of which misdiagnosis keeps being referred to. The explanations for ethnic inequalities are multi-layered, and include social inequalities. A large number of factors influence help seeking as well as clinical assessments and outcomes of therapeutic consultations. There is no doubt that values of majority cultures dramatically influence these processes. Explanatory models held by patients and carers will dictate which pathways to professional care they follow. Help seeking is also determined by the personal, folk and social resources an individual has.
Bhui and Bhugra explore the major causes of ethnic variations in the patterns of health-service usage, which are many, and include cultural variations in explanations of distress, knowledge about the local care systems, geographical and emotional accessibility of services. The culture of healthcare delivery can also influence attitudes towards patients, their carers and their problems. There is no doubt that these processes are mediated through social and cultural factors, including lifestyle. They suggest that a cultural-capability framework which assesses cultural identity, explanatory models, individual and organizational dynamics with a clear emphasis on reflexivity in the assessment may enable the clinician to engage cultural minorities in decision-making and engagement in therapeutic alliances. Inequalities in mental healthcare are particularly stark in some clinical settings, such as forensic care or primary care.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Textbook of Cultural Psychiatry , pp. 81 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
- 2
- Cited by