diverse populations and age

Diverse Populations and Age

Contains unread postsSolange Boza posted May 16, 2018 4:51 AM


Subscribe
Socioeconomic status, culture, gender, ethnicity, and spirituality has a tremendous influence on mental and physical health for an individual. America is home to a boundless array of cultures, races, and ethnicity. With this diversity comes incalculable energy and optimism. Diversity has enriched our Nation by bringing global ideas, perspectives, and productive contributions to all areas of contemporary life. Major mental disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and panic disorder are found worldwide, across all racial and ethnic groups. They have been found across the globe, wherever researchers have surveyed. In the United States, the overall annual prevalence of mental disorders is about 21 percent of adults and children (DHHS, 1999). This Supplement finds that, based on the available evidence, the prevalence of mental disorders for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States is similar to that for whites.
Factors such as socio-economic status, familial interdependence, level of acculturation, immigration status, and fear of stigma in response to a disease or physical disability (Aranda & Knight, 1997; Sotomayor & Randolph, 1988) may influence minority group members’ experiences of caregiving. They may also make them less likely to receive social and professional support services, potentially causing them to suffer levels of distress that are much greater than those documented in samples of non-minority caregivers. While the past decade has seen strong growth in research about these cultural differences, many specific cultural, ethnic and sexual minority populations have been relatively under-studied in the caregiving arena thus far. In this section, we will discuss variations for practice with culturally diverse caregivers, including racial/ethnic minorities, caregivers in rural areas, and those providing care to LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered) individuals, and persons with disabilities. The impact of care giving will be quite different for an Latina woman in Los Angeles who works and provides care for her husband who has had a stroke depending on her family situation. If she has a large, local extended family who are helpful in taking turns caring for her husband when she is at work, her caregiving experience will be very different than if her family lived in Mexico and could not offer any support. If, in addition, the woman is reluctant to contact local agencies for assistance because she is embarrassed that she speaks little English, the stress of caregiving may be compounded. In a situation like this is when Health Literacy needs to be applied. Health Literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (Kutner, M 2006). U.S. Dept. of Education, Wash. DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Caregivers with low health literacy may be reluctant to inform healthcare personnel of their limitations in reading and understanding medical /drug information, nursing care sheets, or other information provided. Psychologists’ sensitive questioning and intervention can avoid medical problems for the care recipient which would greatly distress the caregiver. It can also improve accessing of relevant services for care recipient and caregiver (Schwartzberg, 2005). Many features of family life have a bearing on mental health and mental illness. Starting with etiology, highlighted that family factors can protect against, or contribute to, the risk of developing a mental illness. For example, supportive families and good sibling relationships can protect against the onset of mental illness. On the other hand, a family environment marked by severe marital discord, overcrowding, and social disadvantage can contribute to the onset of mental illness. Conditions such as child abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse also place children at risk for mental disorders and suicide.References:U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental Health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: Author.
Aranda, M.P. & Knight, B.G. (1997). The influence of ethnicity and culture on the caregiver stress and coping process: A socio-cultural review and analysis. The Gerontologist, 37 (3), 342–354.Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., Jin, Y., & Paulsen, C. (2006). The Health Literacy of America’sAdults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2006-483). U.S. Dept. of Education, Wash. DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Schwartzberg, J.G., VanGeest, J.B., Wang, C.C. (2005). Understanding Health Literacy:Implications for Medicine and Public Health. Atlanta , GA: AMA Press.




more
1Unread1Replies2ViewsLast post 6 hours ago by Anthony