Stigmatized Healthcare for Minorities

African-American Mental Health Problems The article I selected for this assignment is Smith's "Mental health care services for African-Americans: Parity or disparity?" It predominantly addresses the social determinants of culture -- specifically African-American culture and experiences with mental health care services in the United States. Additionally, this article also addresses the social determinant of social norms and attitudes of African-Americans in regards to mental health care services.

One of the principal points examined in this article is the stigma that African-Americans have about mental health care -- which, in certain instances, also includes a stigma about health care services in general. The article's fundamental premise is that there is a disparity in mental health care services provided to African-Americans.

This disparity stems from the fact that the very field of mental health was largely pioneered by Caucasians from the western section of Europe, whose "theories, strategies, and techniques…were based on Western European values and societal privileges not shared by all racial and ethnic problems" (Smith, 2015, p. 55).

Moreover, the author intimates that although there have been numerous, dedicated efforts towards establishing and maintaining cultural competencies in the field of mental health and throughout the health care field in general, there is still a perceived difference in the efficacy and nature of this treatment for African-Americans than for other cultures. Specifically, these are "disparities between populations with respect to mental health and the quality, accessibility, and outcomes of mental health care" (p. 56). The aforementioned social determinants contributed to unhealthy risk behaviors in a number of different ways.

The most eminent of these is the fact that there has long been a stigma in the African-American community associated with mental health care, which has resulted in a situation in which African-Americans are "less likely to utilize counseling services, and those that do seek mental health care begin treatment at a later stage in the course of their illness than do White populations…They are likely to be misdiagnosed and…terminate counseling prematurely" (p. 58).

What is critical about these social determinants is that they greatly increase the proclivity for African-Americans, or those of any other marginalized and historic minority communities, to actually need mental health services. Many of these factors are dependent upon socio-economic realities, such as the notion that those with the least amount of money incur levels of stress that require mental health services at a rate exceeding that of more affluent groups (Smith, p. 57).

Minorities disproportionately encompass lower rates of socioeconomic hegemony than Caucasians do, engendering a situation in which they have greater psychological stress than other groups. Paradoxically, then, African-Americans have a greater need for mental health services than others do, yet have a distinct stigma about utilizing these services due to their perceived inefficacy. The true ramifications of this situation is that historic minority groups are projected to encompass the majority of the U.S. population within the next 50 years --.