One final limitation may be that our review lacks more ‘rigorous’ studies, as indicated by the lack of ‘strong’ quality studies. We did not conduct external searches to investigate the studies, unless the article in our review directed readers to another publication to increase information on the protocol. As in the systematic reviews described above on similar topics, we have included Indigenous peoples from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Understanding the Unique Mental Health Challenges for BIPOC Communities
EMHPrac acknowledges people with a lived experience of mental illness and their significant contribution to the development of Australia’s digital mental health services. The combination of a growing workforce of Native mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists) alongside indigenous community mental health workers has the ability to widen scope, increase local and cultural assets, improve a continuum of care, and work to reduce disparities. Points of integrating traditional healing and western mental health care emphasize working together on culturally based programs, respect for each system of care, and the importance of communication between the two (Moorehead et al., 2015). A convening of traditional healers, researchers, and clinicians provided a definition of traditional healing and traditional healer, in addition to points of integration for AI/AN practices with mental health services (Moorehead, Gone, & December, 2015). A recent study of Dine youth, caregivers, and elders revealed “connections to the land were a vital cultural strength on which to build efforts to promote mental health, wellbeing, and healing” (Goodkind et al., 2015).
Extant research indicates that Indigenous populations experience a greater risk and prevalence of PTSD, in comparison with any other American ethnicity or race (Beals et al., 2013a,b; Robin et al., 1997b), which likely has to do with a greater exposure to trauma as a result of historical oppression creating adverse social environments. Disparities must be considered in the context of such historical oppression, as such oppression may give rise to, exacerbate and perpetuate social and health disadvantages. Although a systematic review of risk and protective factors related to mental health and SUD is present for Indigenous youth (Burnette and Figley, 2016), to our knowledge, no such systematic review could be located for adults, which poses a huge gap towards ameliorating mental health disparities.
Federal Indian Hospitals Settlement Agreement Support Services
Using a systematic search procedure, we identified 27 studies that explored Indigenous populations’ mental health service access. Social workers can support Indigenous mental health by providing culturally sensitive practice, supporting community-led initiatives, and advocating for systemic change. By working together with Indigenous communities and adopting culturally sensitive practices, social workers can play a vital role in promoting mental health and wellbeing. Effective mental health interventions for Indigenous communities are often those that are community-led and culturally grounded.
- Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.
- Transcendence goes beyond recovering and describes where people may reach even greater levels of meaning, functioning, growth and well-being (Burnette and Figley, 2017).
- Although protective factors were identified, almost half of the studies did not include a discussion of protective factors, indicating a need for a more nuanced and strengths-based approach to understand health equity.
- Another study by Brave Heart and colleagues (2016) with urban AI/ANs demonstrated that approximately 70% and 63% of AI/AN men and women respectively, compared to 62% and 53% of non-Hispanic White men and women, met criteria for a lifetime psychiatric disorder.
- Across studies, a high level of social support and self-efficacy (Schure and Goins, 2017) was found to be a buffer (protective factor) against depressive symptoms (Roh et al., 2015; Burnette et al., 2016; Çayır et al., 2017; Schure and Goins, 2017).
Based on this assumption, the qualitative exploration of accessibility in the reviewed articles focus on Indigenous people’s experiences and perceptions of mental health services and take into account characteristics of mental health services that could influence individuals’ utilisation of the services. While these methods are primarily used for identifying help-seeking behaviours among Indigenous individuals to facilitate their utilisation of mental health services , access to mental health services for Indigenous people or a sub-group of them (e.g., youth) is a key component of these studies 14, 35. This systematic review aims to synthesise existing scholarship on how accessibility to mental health services for Indigenous people are studied, identify knowledge gaps, and pave pathways for future research to inform planning and policymaking for addressing the inequities in accessing mental health services for Indigenous groups. To tackle the disparity in mental health service accessibility between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, it is crucial to understand how accessibility to mental health services is measured for Indigenous people, while currently, measures of this accessibility remain largely uncharted. It is essential to collect data quantifying mental health service supply and demand of such Cultural humility resources for professionals services considering barriers for Indigenous people, in order to develop an accessibility measure that can be generalised to different Indigenous populations, can be replicated with a high degree of precision, and can capture changes across different conditions in a quantifiable manner . With a growing body of literature examining the disparities in mental health service usage for racial-ethnic communities including Indigenous groups 11, 12, enhancing access to mental health services for Indigenous peoples has been suggested as effective interventions to eliminate such disparities 10, 13.
In Australia, these core components of cultural health must be situated in a contemporary context of ongoing colonisation. Culture practices offer frameworks for healing nurturing the relationship between people, Country and culture. This narrative review explores the concept of cultural health focusing on the interplay between culture, health, and wellbeing within settler colonial contexts. By recognizing and valuing indigenous knowledge systems, we not only show respect for diverse cultures but also gain access to a wealth of wisdom that has been refined over generations. By offering alternative perspectives on issues like trauma, addiction, and community well-being, indigenous approaches could provide valuable insights for tackling these complex problems.