Misdiagnosis of psychotic -spectrum disorders by mobile crisis workers

The purpose of this study was to examine how the variables of diagnosis and disposition are affected by client race and gender, and the race of mobile crisis workers. The crisis assessments of 3073 client participants were obtained from a community mental health center in middle Tennessee. Specifically, there were 333 African American clients, 2690 Caucasian clients, and 50 Hispanic clients. Results of this study indicated that there are significant differences among the client racial groups in terms of diagnosis, with African American clients being diagnosed with psychotic-spectrum disorders more often than Caucasian and Hispanic clients, and Caucasian and Hispanic clients being diagnosed with mood disorders more often than African American clients. Additionally, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that gender within these three client racial groups seems to interact significantly differently concerning the same variable. However, no significant differences were found between race and gender with regard to disposition. Conclusions and recommendations are made concerning the importance of multicultural issues within diagnosis and disposition, as well as future research