Developing a Culturally Relevant Mental Health Assessment for Persons of African Descent

Abstract Problem: Persons of African descent have lower access to mental health care, are less likely to receive needed care, and are more likely to be misdiagnosed, experience severe disease, and to receive mental health care through primary care than non-Hispanic Whites. Context: Cultural norms related to mental health as well as the lack of culturally congruent health care delivery contribute to lower mental health care access and uptake among persons of African descent. Interventions: Campinha-Bacote’s cultural competence model and the BATHE technique provided the theoretical framework for the development and implementation of a nurse practitioner (NP) (n = 4) administered culturally tailored mental health assessment intervention for patients (n = 87) of African descent at a primary care center. Measures: Outcome measures used to assess the impact of the intervention were NP adherence to the use of the assessment, patient mental health referrals within the clinic, and NPs’ and patients’ perceived usefulness and cultural relevance of the intervention. Results: NP adherence to the use of the assessment was 100%. Twenty-one patients were referred to mental health care during the intervention. All NPs and the majority of patients reported the assessment to be culturally relevant and useful. Pearson’s two-tailed correlations found a significant (p Conclusions: The theoretically grounded brief culturally-tailored mental health assessment was found to be relevant and useful in the mental health assessment and referral of patients of African descent and appeared to be sustainable for routine use in the project organization and likely transferable to other settings and populations. Keywords: culturally congruent care, mental health assessment, African descen