Course Description:

This course is based on a comprehensive report on mental health and ethnicity published by the surgeon general. This course provides the reader with up to date information on the status of, needs for, availability of and outcomes of mental health services for minority groups. It is the introductory chapter of an extensive report on culture and mental health in America.

This course is designed for both clinicians and administrators who work in both private and public, and urban and rural areas. Psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists can benefit from this course. This course may also be helpful for other practitioners, such as midwives and dieticians and nutritionists who work with a diverse client base.  This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to improve the skills in the area of cross-cultural competency and multiculturalism.

Author: Surgeon General of the United States

Learning Objectives: This course will provide a professional with information about how culture affects mental health and mental health care in the United States. Specifically, a professional will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of how culture affects the prevalence and presentation of mental illness.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how culture affects treatment-seeking behaviors and stigma associated with mental illness.
• Demonstrate an understanding of culturally competent evidence-based treatment for mental illness.

Citation:  Surgeon General of United States (2001). Culture Counts, Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity. A Report of the Surgeon General.   Updates added by DiDona, T.M. (2018). From sources in NAMI – with additional references added

Reviewed by TM DiDona, PhD 2018 and found to be current.  Updated references include:

• Avila, J., Chelvakumar, G., & Ford, N. (2017). Gender and Sexual Minorities Cultural Competency Training for Pediatric Residents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(2), S87.
• Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I. I. (2016). Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.
• Bleidorn, W., Arslan, R. C., Denissen, J. J., Rentfrow, P. J., Gebauer, J. E., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2016). Age and gender differences in self-esteem—A cross-cultural window. Journal of personality and social psychology, 111(3), 396.
• Donaldson, W. V., & Vacha-Haase, T. (2016). Exploring staff clinical knowledge and practice with LGBT residents in long-term care: A grounded theory of cultural competency and training needs. Clinical Gerontologist, 39(5), 389-409.
• Rosenkrantz, D. E., Black, W. W., Abreu, R. L., Aleshire, M. E., & Fallin-Bennett, K. (2017). Health and health care of rural sexual and gender minorities: A systematic review. Stigma and Health, 2(3), 229.
• Tan, J. Y., Xu, L. J., Lopez, F. Y., Jia, J. L., Pho, M. T., Kim, K. E., & Chin, M. H. (2016). Shared decision making among clinicians and Asian American and Pacific Islander sexual and gender minorities: An intersectional approach to address a critical care gap. LGBT health, 3(5), 327-334.