Does stigma keep poor young immigrant and U.S.-born black and Latina women from seeking mental health care? Article

Nadeem, E, Lange, JM, Edge, D et al. (2007). Does stigma keep poor young immigrant and U.S.-born black and Latina women from seeking mental health care? . PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES, 58(12), 1547-1554. 10.1176/ps.2007.58.12.1547

cited authors

  • Nadeem, E; Lange, JM; Edge, D; Fongwa, M; Belin, T; Miranda, J

authors

abstract

  • Objective: This study examined the extent to which stigma-related concerns about mental health care account for the underuse of mental health services among low-income immigrant and U.S.-born black and Latina women. Methods: Participants included 15,383 low-income women screened for depression in county entitlement services who were asked about barriers to care, stigma-related concerns, and whether they wanted or were getting mental health care. Results: Among those who were depressed, compared with U.S.-born white women, each of the black groups were more likely to report stigma concerns (African immigrants, odds ratio [OR]=3.28, p=.004; Caribbean immigrants, OR=6.17, p=.005; U.S.-born blacks, OR=6.17, p=.06). Compared with U.S.-born white women, immigrant African women (OR=.18, p<.001), immigrant Caribbean women (OR=.11, p=.001), U.S.-born black women (OR=.31, p<.001), and U.S.-born Latinas (OR=.32, p=.03) were less likely to want treatment. Conversely, compared with U.S.-born white women, immigrant Latinas (OR=2.17, p=.02) were more likely to want treatment. There was a significant stigma-by-immigrant interaction predicting interest in treatment (p<.001). Stigma reduced the desire for mental health treatment for immigrant women with depression (OR=.35, p<.001) to a greater extent than it did for U.S.-born white women with depression (OR=.52, p=.24). Conclusions: Stigma-related concerns are most common among immigrant women and may partly account for underutilization of mental health care services by disadvantaged women from ethnic minority groups.

publication date

  • January 1, 2007

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 1547

end page

  • 1554

volume

  • 58

issue

  • 12