Barnett, M. L., Gonzalez, A., Miranda, J., Chavira, D. A., & Lau, S. A. (2018). Mobilizing community health workers to address mental health disparities for underserved populations: A systematic review. Administration and policy in mental health and mental health services research, 45(1), 195–211. Web.
Low-income adults are now a major factor in the lack of access to mental health services. As a solution for people without access to psychological services, this article suggests the involvement of community health workers. Forty-three articles representing 39 independent studies were selected for analysis, each of which presented a profile of community health workers’ work with people with mental disorders. The literature review also provided an examination of the role of community health workers in providing interventions and support for implementation. According to this review, interventions by such staff have resulted in symptom reduction. Thus, training community health workers to support the implementation of evidence-based practices can help reduce mental health inequalities.
Borson S., Korpak, A., Carbajal-Madrid, P., Likar, D., Brown, G. A, & Batra, R. (2019). Reducing barriers to mental health care: Bringing evidence-based psychotherapy home. Journal of the American geriatric society, 67(10), 2174-2179. Web.
The authors of this article developed and implemented an evidence-based psychotherapy program to reduce barriers to treatment for adults. It consists of providing free in-home mental health care in the native language of clients who do not have access to mental health services. The study site was a SCAN Health Plan community service facility in Southern California called Independence at Home. The participants were older adults and adult caregivers of seniors with age-related disabilities. According to the study, the proposed program can successfully be of help to clients of multiple social and ethnic backgrounds that need mental health care.
Moore, K. L. (2018). Mental health service engagement among underserved minority adolescents and young adults: A systematic review. Journal Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 5(1), 1063–1076. Web.
This article offers a literature review to study the methods that can engage more young adults in mental health services. Specific criteria were established for this study, namely sample age 17 to 27, sufficient ethnic/racial representation, and a goal of improving access to mental health services. According to the study, there were multiple crucial elements of interventions to address the needs of young adults. Namely, those included involvement of family and other appropriate natural supports, consideration of cultural context, and the promotion of independence.
Mongelli, F., Georgakopoulos, P., & Pato, M. T. (2020). Challenges and opportunities to meet the mental health needs of underserved and disenfranchised populations in the United States. Focus: Diversity, equity, and inclusion in psychiatry, 18(1), 16-24. Web.
The authors of this article explore ways to address psychological problems in adults arising from the gap in access and quality of mental health care in the United States. Researchers primarily cite the use of the collaborative care model, namely the involvement of the patient’s family in their rehabilitation, as a solution to these problems. The article also mentions telemedicine and improved mental health nursing training as practical interventions for bridging the patient care gap.
Roberts, T., Miguel Esponda, G., Krupchanka, D. et al. (2018). Factors associated with health service utilization for common mental disorders: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry 18(1), 262. Web.
There is a significant treatment gap for common psychiatric disorders among adults, which varies across regions of the world. In this literature review, researchers identify factors associated with the use of formal health services to treat such disorders in the adult population. Of the entire database reviewed, 52 studies met the inclusion criteria. According to the study results provided, there was evidence of an association between service use and self-reported health status and symptom duration. Thus, in order to regularize psychologist visits to specialists, patient education about self-diagnosis should be conducted.
Steinman, L., Parrish, A., Mayotte, C., Bravo, P., Torres, E., Markova, M., Boddie, M., Lachenmayr, S., Montoya, C. N., Parker, L., Conton-Pelaez, E., Silsby, J., & Snowden, M. (2021). Increasing social connectedness for underserved older adults living with depression: A pre-post evaluation of PEARLS. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry, 29(8), 828-842. Web.
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of PEARLS in increasing social engagement among underserved older adults with depression. The research methodology used was a multisite, pretest single-group evaluation conducted at a community-based social service organization in the United States. According to the results, PEARLS can be used effectively to fill the gap in mental health care for older adults, although additional support may be needed for people facing multiple social determinants of health. These conclusions were primarily drawn from improved scores of the participants of the study program. The areas of improvement were the constructs of social connectedness: loneliness, perceived isolation, social interactions and satisfaction with them. All these improvements occurred six months after enrollment in the program. On this basis, it can be argued that PEARLS helps people better socialize in the medical field and thus receive more regular care.