Examining perceptions about mental health care and help-seeking among rural African American families of adolescents.
Rural African American children living in poverty have a higher prevalence rate of mental health disorders than their urban counterparts. While access to mental health services is lacking in resource scarce rural communities, African American rural residents may also be the most likely to confront significant barriers to care and help-seeking. Studies of mental health help-seeking behavior among rural families are rare, even rarer are studies of African Americans living in these areas. To address this gap, the current study examined perceptions about help-seeking for adolescents with mental health problems among rural African American families. Data were obtained from African American mothers in rural Georgia to assess their perceptions of the mental health service system, help-seeking processes, and service experiences. A mixed-method approach was implemented, integrating a quantitative survey (n = 163) with qualitative interviews (subsample n = 21). Most of the mothers expressed confidence in mental health care providers' to help. Preferred sources of support, however, were family, church, and schools. Community stigma towards children with mental health problems and their families was a frequently endorsed perceived barrier to help-seeking. Although cultural mistrust was one of the two most frequently endorsed barriers in the survey, it did not emerge as a universal barrier to help-seeking for the mothers in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and practice include addressing family concerns about stigma, preferences for informal support and non-specialty services in addressing adolescents' mental health problems, and building community resources to enable all youth to participate in community life.
Department of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Velma McBride
VM
Murry
Craig Anne
CA
Heflinger
Sarah V
SV
Suiter
Gene H
GH
Brody
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003469:Culture; D005190:Family; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009035:Mothers; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011203:Poverty; D012424:Rural Population
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