Research Paper Undergraduate 2,157 words Human Written

Social Work and the Mental Health Policy Implications African Americans

Last reviewed: ~10 min read Health › Mental Health
80% visible
Read full paper →
Paper Overview

Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans 9 Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans In the context of mental health, unlike overall health, differences in health care take precedence over inequalities...

Full Paper Example 2,157 words · 80% shown · Sign up to read all

Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans

Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans 9

Social work and the implications of a mental health policy for African Americans

In the context of mental health, unlike overall health, differences in health care take precedence over inequalities in mental wellbeing. In aggregate, ways to enhance healthcare coverage, like increasing availability and improving treatment value, would go a long way toward eradicating inequities in mental health care (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Nonetheless, reducing mental health inequities requires social workers' different mental health personnel and delivery and patient awareness. Therefore, inequalities in mental health care are regarded as inequitable discrepancies in accessing or standard of healthcare based on ethnicity and race, which are fairly widespread.  the overwhelming indications point to the presence of substantial and long-standing inequities in mental health care. Black Americans have a prominent place in the US during the middle ages and modern times.  Prejudice plus slavery have left an indelible mark on their economic and social status. Just in the perspective of this larger old background can the mental state of black Americans be comprehended. Most black Americans have endured misfortune and hold a great mental health level because of their perseverance and social relationships with social workers in the United States. Therefore, this paper presents societal work and implications of pursuance in equity in mental health act as a policy that provides initiatives to tackle ethnic and racial inequities in mental wellbeing (Office et al., 2001).

Scope of problem.

The inability to obtain mental health treatment leading to a shortage of medical insurance is an obstacle for African America. Uninsured African Americans account for about a quarter of the population, 1.5 times whites (Office et al., 2001). Medical coverage is often offered as a fringe benefit in the U.s. Professional African Americans have a far reduced amount of career insurance than working whites because they are more likely to work in low-wage employment. Even though healthcare insurance is among the most key factor of whether or not to discover remedy both among the whites and African Americans, it is completely obvious that health coverage by itself does not alleviate differences in access between the whites and African Americans, at least when controlled by private training scheme. The availability of more substantial health care coverage in insurance benefits does not encourage therapy seeking as much among African Americans as it does among whites. Eliminating financial obstacles is a crucial step toward decreasing inequities in treatment, but it is not adequate in and of itself, as per the research presently offered.

About 21% of African Americans are covered by Medicaid, a significant public health insurance program that subsidizes care for the poor (Office et al., 2001). Medicaid funds are one of the most important funding sources for security networkers, on whom numerous African Americans rely. Medicaid-funded practitioners have had a better track record than many in eliminating inequities in mental health care provision. Another obstacle to getting mental care is African American perceptions concerning the mental disorder. Mental disease has a massive stigma, and getting help isn't often promoted. According to one research, African Americans afraid of mental health treatment is 2.5 times higher than whites (Office et al., 2001). Some other analyses of parents with children who met the AD/HD criteria revealed that Families have been less likely than white families to use specific medical terminology to characterize their child's challenges and were much more likely to predict a shortened trajectory.

Further research found that elderly African Americans knew very little about despair than their white counterparts. Clinicians and authorities had often refused to prioritize the black American wishes I getting the support techniques. The amount of duration used by their doctors, a feeling of confidence, or whether the doctor is a black American influence black Americans. African People were more likely than whites to say that prejudice and religion influenced their desire to seek treatment in focus groups (Office et al., 2001).

Another scope of mental health for African Americans by the social workers is that one's location also influences the accessibility of mental health care. From the research, the rural South is home to a disproportionately large number of African Americans. According to data, mental health practitioners are centered in metropolitan regions and are less likely to be present in America's most rural areas. Moreover, African Americans in city areas are disproportionately clustered in impoverished neighborhoods. Urban doctors who refuse to accept Medicaid or provide treatments to high-need clients are unavailable to them (Office et al., 2001).

Impact of Health Policy on chosen population.

Given current attempts to enhance mental health and substance abuse treatments to the African Americans, the Us continues to fall short in delivering sufficient care to underrepresented groups hence bringing the critical race theory (Watson Coleman, 2020). Professional limitations, a shortage of inpatient treatment beds, and a lack of culturally competent programs are all aspects that relate to persisting inequities in treatment. As per the Mental Health, many African American individuals with a mental illness do not undergo care, and one in every five adults has an unmet need. Youth mental state is increasing to deteriorate. Ethnic and racial populations like African Americans are affected by inequalities in psychological disorders and drug use care. Furthermore, particular groups of people, such as African Americans who have experienced poverty, childhood abuse, family violence, or have been in foster care, have traditionally faced a lack of access to treatments, lower usage, and even worse mental quality of care (Miller et al., 2017).

The pursuance of equity in Mental Health Act of 116th congress made policy legislation have been to the implementation in response to the persisting issues of mental health for the African Americans in the US.  The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assistance Management, in particular, should indeed grant subsidies to decrease ethnic health imbalances by delivering integrated healthcare coverage in places with a high percentage of ethnic and racial minority populations and evolving federal policies for medical practitioners. The law also mandates investigations on mental health inequalities and the impact of online media usage on teenagers, as well as reauthorizing the ethnic residency campaigns to encourage the training of mental health experts that provide treatment to racial minorities as for this case to the African Americans (Watson Coleman, 2020).

Through the policy, the American Association Agency gives the following suggestions for establishing lineups and treatments to enhance health equality in mental wellbeing and drug use for the African Americans by the nation's social workers. Increase the number of racial minorities who have access to linguistically and culturally appropriate behavioral and mental health care. Promote healthy interactions and initiatives in ethnic and racial minority groups to raise awareness of mental health and minimize ecological variables that may put African Americans at risk (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Boost financing for behavioral and cognitive clinical staff training, including instruction to have become ethnically and linguistically competent so that the medical social workers may avoid the inequality in mental health treatment.  Plan and deliver programs and policies focused on the psychological and cognitive study to strengthen ethnic and racial African Americans through linguistically and culturally aware, fact solutions and to encourage local, state, and federal funding organizations to include linguistically and culturally relevant requirements in applications for services for kids, families, and youth from the African Americans. 

Theoretical framework.

The research stipulates the hypothetical outline in the study since it reinforces a concept by presenting and outlining research flow as per the outline given to blending all the images in examining the social work and the implication of mental health through the pursuance of equity in the Mental Health Act of the 116th congress so that the inequality of treatment by the medical social workers can reduce. There is also an exhibition acquaintance of thoughts plus impressions relevant to the learning topic. In addition, it recognizes the more significant aspects of expertise that are reflected in the research. A theoretical framework is also used since I have critically analyzed the assumptions because I have stated them explicitly. It links the scientist to existing knowledge by controlling them with appropriate ideas and offering the study aim and research method base. It identifies the critical factors that impact phenomena of interest and emphasizes the need to examine them to see how they are different in different situations, such as the difference between the mental health treatments for whites and African Americans. It defines the study's approach to evaluating and evaluating the information to be acquired and restricting the range of the relevant information by focusing on a single factor. It helps comprehend ideas and parameters as defined by the supplied descriptions and creates new understanding by verifying and testing hypotheses as per this research.

The implication of the mental health system.

The mental health system created by the medical social workers is that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among African Americans is much more than three times that of white. The majority of HIV/AIDS appear to be about seven times greater in blacks than whites, and the illness is now one of the leading causes of mortality for African Americans. Breast cancer is more common in African American women than in white women. Infant deaths are twice as large in African Americans as white people (Watson Coleman, 2020).

The Implication of Social Work Practice.

Patients, especially African Americans with cognitive impairments, have historically relied on social services to create, administrate, and provide services (Carpenter, 2002). According to critiques of the establishment, the disease model is a motivating influence in policy and service implementation, particularly social services and psychological health consumption, clinicians. This strategy is harmful to customers' personalities and optimism because it goes against several core social work ideals. According to the research, the customer healing campaign's goals and values are closely aligned with the discipline's. The organization gives medical social workers a more hopeful viewpoint from which to operate. The core principles and ideals of the growing healing model are defined and the consequences for primary care, management, legislation, teaching, and investigation.

Recommendation.

Since mental health inequalities are nearly completely due to differences in colors in the United States, the pursuance of equity in mental health as a policy should aim to increase accessibility to and enhance the best value of mental healthcare for all Americans and specifically to African Americans. Except for healthcare in general, these policy measures do not represent uniqueness for psychological therapies for even the most part. The policy that culminates in universal health coverage for mental health services, in particular, would greatly increase accessibility for black Americans. Likewise, enhancing the performance of health therapy will likely reduce, and not eradicate, gaps in mental care. These attempts to improve the best value in treatment would need to involve testing to boost the accurate diagnosis of problems among the African Americans and provide one language that will be key for the training of black Americans in their rights about the policy.  Government laws need to provide the education and outreach assistance required to develop a diversified workforce to address the government's mental health requirements, which is especially important for eradicating mental health inequities for African Americans.

432 words remaining — Conclusions

You're 80% through this paper

The remaining sections cover Conclusions. Subscribe for $1 to unlock the full paper, plus 130,000+ paper examples and the PaperDue AI writing assistant — all included.

$1 full access trial
130,000+ paper examples AI writing assistant included Citation generator Cancel anytime
Sources Used in This Paper
source cited in this paper
7 sources cited in this paper
Sign up to view the full reference list — includes live links and archived copies where available.
Cite This Paper
"Social Work And The Mental Health Policy Implications African Americans" (2021, November 21) Retrieved April 22, 2026, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/social-work-mental-health-policy-implications-african-americans-research-paper-2176820

Always verify citation format against your institution's current style guide.

80% of this paper shown 432 words remaining