MIDTERM PAPER: POLICY PROCESS PAPER & INFOGRAPHIC

RUNNING HEAD: DEPRESSION AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS (MALE & FEMALE) 1

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female)

Morana Francois

University of Bridgeport

HSCI-326 Health Policy & Management

October 3, 2019

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female) 2

Depression among African Americans is a very common issue which mostly goes

undetected due to the lack of education, medical services and poverty. Depression is one of the

most common mental issues that African Americans face.

The people in the community experience these mental conditions, especially depression

due to unmet needs and other ethnic related issues. African Americans are more likely to

experience the mental health problems by a 20% margin higher than the general American

population (ADAA, 2018). This is hugely contributed to by the living conditions and other

societal problems being lower on other parts of the country compared to the African American

community. One of the greatest preconditions that result to such high percentages of African

Americans being depressed is the exposure to high rates of violence in the community. The risk

of a member of the community having PTSD is by over 25% compared to the general

population.

Many of the affected people in the community tend to take a mental health condition such

as depression as a sign of weakness and therefore do not seek medical help. Of the 45.7 million

African Americans in the U.S.A. 16% have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Historical conditions such as slavery and racial discrimination among the members of the

community has resulted into socioeconomic problems within the community. These problems

have further added to the current mental health problems experienced within the community.

Many of the cases of depression within the community go unreported due to social norms

within the community as well as the lack of understanding of what mental health conditions are

including depression. African American teenagers are 2.1% more likely to attempt suicide than

white teenagers in the United States. Due to their economic conditions, 15.9% African

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female) 3

Americans are not covered under any health insurance policy. Due to this and other similar

predispositions, only 54.3% of the population of African Americans were able to receive

treatment from depression in 2011, compared to 73.1% of the white Americans (MHA, 2019).

The information available on the internet is very comprehensive when illustrating the

causes of depression among African Americans. However, the information available does not

cover the economic consequences of the issue for the affected community as a whole or for

individuals living in the community.

The issue of depression among African Americans has perpetuated the status quo of

depression in the community. This arises after a depressed person within the community engages

in activities such as violence acts which cost others valuable assets or influence them in other

negative ways, resulting to them being depressed too. The cycle of violence and depression

within the community can be stopped through implementing policies which can help reduce the

weight of the issue. Some policies which could be implemented include (in order of priority;

from most prioritized to least prioritized): Job creations for African Americans; Most of the cases

of depression within the community of African Americans can be traced to poverty. Through

creating jobs for the African Americans can be very effective in combating depression within the

society. Education; through providing education opportunities for children within the

community, the fight against depression can be very successful. Through educating the future

generations on depression, its causes, and mitigation techniques, the fight against depression is

almost won (Ward, 1995, p. 192). Although this policy does not have immediate effect on the

community, it is a great long-term solution. Availing cheap medical services; many depression

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female) 4

cases go undetected and therefore untreated due to the unavailability of qualified medical

services. Through availing quality medical services at cheap prices, people afflicted by

depression could seek assistance and get it easily and therefore reduce depression in the

community.

Research in this field has been done many times before. For instance, a study was done

on communalism, family cohesion, and family support in suicide ideation and depression in

college students who are African American (Harris & Molock, 2010). The study which

constituted of 188 African American individuals of both male and female genders, revealed that

high levels of family cohesion and family support resulted in low chances and levels of

depression and suicide ideation. The elimination of the depression-causing factors from the

affected people’s lives is bound to be successful in combating the health issue. Implementing of

the above-mentioned issues is a sure way to increase the health of the depressed people in the

African American community. The cost of implementing the above strategies is very minimal

compared to the results of the strategies. Approximately half the budget assigned to respective

fields by the U.S. government should be used to implement the strategies mentioned above. Even

though the cost may seem a bit too much, it is important to keep in mind a famous saying “No

pain, No gain”. The reason why job creation is the most prioritized policy is because it has

immediate effects and has ripple effects on the society. Most African Americans are depressed

due to poverty. Those who are not directly depressed by unemployment are indirectly depressed

by unemployment in that their depression is caused by others who are not employed.

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female) 5

To create jobs for the African American community requires devotion and strategic

operation. The strategy main goal is to advocate for those who are poor and unemployed in the

community to look for jobs. The most crucial people in the strategy are the community leaders,

the depressed themselves, and family members of the depressed. They are most crucial

participants in the strategy. The depressed people in the community are generally known by the

community members and leaders. The leaders are used to identify them. The adults who are

depressed within the community first have to be encouraged and gently nudged to get out of their

inactive state of poverty and out into the world to look for jobs. The responsibility of

encouragement lies with their family members or close friends. Once they are willing to look for

a job, the community leaders could then be used to vouch for them to the industry leaders. This

would highly increase the chances of them being employed within industries as opposed to when

they go to search for the jobs alone. Once they have secured jobs, the last step is to have their

family members monitor them to ensure that they maintain their jobs.

Reduction of poverty in the African American communities creates a sense of security

and prosperity within the community. Most important of all, the security that a job brings is

bound to reduce depression levels among the affected individuals. In the long run, employment

results in elimination of poverty and crimes which result from poverty. This happens when the

employed person gets free of his/her depression and learns to focus on what is important health

wise to them. The children of the person are more likely to get quality education up to the

completion of college level. The certificates that they get from the college are bound to score

them a good paying job which repeats the cycle and breaks the cycle of poverty in the society.

Depression among African Americans (Male & Female) 6

REFERENCES

ADAA. (2018). African Americans. https://adaa.org/african-americans

Harris, L.T. & Molock, D. S. (2010). Cultural Orientation, Family Cohesion, and Family

Support in Suicide Ideation and Depression among African American College Students.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1943-278X.2000.tb01100.x

MHA. (2019). Black & African American Communities and Mental Health

https://www.mhanational.org/issues/black-african-american-communities-and-mental-

health

Ward, J. (1995) Cultivating a Morality of Care in African American Adolescents: A Culture-

Based Model of Violence Prevention. Harvard Educational Review: July 1995, Vol. 65,

No. 2, pp. 175-189. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.65.2.077676x73k129681