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Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity

BACKGROUND: Limited English proficiency (LEP) may contribute to mental health care disparities, yet empirical data are limited. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the language barriers to mental health care by race/ethnicity using a direct measure of LEP is the objective of the study. DESIGN: Cross-sectional an...

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Autores principales: Sentell, Tetine, Shumway, Martha, Snowden, Lonnie
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer-Verlag 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2150610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17957413
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0345-7
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author Sentell, Tetine
Shumway, Martha
Snowden, Lonnie
author_facet Sentell, Tetine
Shumway, Martha
Snowden, Lonnie
author_sort Sentell, Tetine
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Limited English proficiency (LEP) may contribute to mental health care disparities, yet empirical data are limited. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the language barriers to mental health care by race/ethnicity using a direct measure of LEP is the objective of the study. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the 2001 California Health Interview Survey is the study’s design. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 to 64 who provided language data (n = 41,984) were the participants of the study. MEASUREMENT: Participants were categorized into three groups by self-reported English proficiency and language spoken at home: (1) English-speaking only, (2) Bilingual, and (3) Non-English speaking. Mental health treatment was measured by self-reported use of mental health services by those reporting a mental health need. RESULTS: Non-English speaking individuals had lower odds of receiving needed services (OR: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.17–0.48) than those who only spoke English, when other factors were controlled. The relationship was even more dramatic within racial/ethnic groups: non-English speaking Asian/PIs (OR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.30–0.81) and non-English speaking Latinos (OR: 0.19; 95% CI: 0.09–0.39) had significantly lower odds of receiving services compared to Asian/PIs and Latinos who spoke only English. CONCLUSIONS: LEP is associated with lower use of mental health care. Since LEP is concentrated among Asian/PIs and Latinos, it appears to contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in mental health care. Heightened attention to LEP is warranted in both mental health practice and policy.
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spelling pubmed-21506102008-05-06 Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity Sentell, Tetine Shumway, Martha Snowden, Lonnie J Gen Intern Med Original Article BACKGROUND: Limited English proficiency (LEP) may contribute to mental health care disparities, yet empirical data are limited. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the language barriers to mental health care by race/ethnicity using a direct measure of LEP is the objective of the study. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the 2001 California Health Interview Survey is the study’s design. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 to 64 who provided language data (n = 41,984) were the participants of the study. MEASUREMENT: Participants were categorized into three groups by self-reported English proficiency and language spoken at home: (1) English-speaking only, (2) Bilingual, and (3) Non-English speaking. Mental health treatment was measured by self-reported use of mental health services by those reporting a mental health need. RESULTS: Non-English speaking individuals had lower odds of receiving needed services (OR: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.17–0.48) than those who only spoke English, when other factors were controlled. The relationship was even more dramatic within racial/ethnic groups: non-English speaking Asian/PIs (OR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.30–0.81) and non-English speaking Latinos (OR: 0.19; 95% CI: 0.09–0.39) had significantly lower odds of receiving services compared to Asian/PIs and Latinos who spoke only English. CONCLUSIONS: LEP is associated with lower use of mental health care. Since LEP is concentrated among Asian/PIs and Latinos, it appears to contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in mental health care. Heightened attention to LEP is warranted in both mental health practice and policy. Springer-Verlag 2007-10-24 2007-11 /pmc/articles/PMC2150610/ /pubmed/17957413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0345-7 Text en © Society of General Internal Medicine 2007
spellingShingle Original Article
Sentell, Tetine
Shumway, Martha
Snowden, Lonnie
Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title_full Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title_fullStr Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title_full_unstemmed Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title_short Access to Mental Health Treatment by English Language Proficiency and Race/Ethnicity
title_sort access to mental health treatment by english language proficiency and race/ethnicity
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2150610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17957413
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0345-7
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