Mental healthcare disparities

RQ: What are the mental Healthcare barriers experienced by West/Central Africa Immigrants in the US

GAP

African immigrants in the United States are a population that is rapidly growing and currently composed of about 5% of the U.S. population with 36% of the Africa immigrants in the U. S originating from West and central Africa (Anderson (2017). According to the Pew Research Center, the Black African immigrant population in the United States grew from about 600,000 to 2.0 million Between 2000 and 2019, resulting in people of African origin now making up to 42% of the country’s foreign-born Black population (Tamir, 2022). Ahmed and Rasmussen (2020) emphasize that, immigration comes with rapid changes in social status that have effects on mental health.

During the literature search for the gap, I noticed that research with immigrant populations has identified relevant social status indicators, but these indicators are not sufficient to address changes that are uniquely relevant to immigrants from West/Central African regions. West/ Central African immigrants residing in the United States experience several common mental disorders however, just a few seek appropriate treatment for their mental health condition and studies addressing service use disparities are less common. (Novak et al., 2018). Little is known regarding the barriers of this population’s mental health, particularly the roles played by culture, immigration conditions and the unique transnational practices.

Articles to review (at least, 2 paragraphs each)

Diaz, E., Ortiz-Barreda, G., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Holdsworth, M., Salami, B., Rammohan, A., Chung, R. Y., Padmadas, S. S., Krafft, T. (2017). Systematic review and meta-analyses interventions to improve immigrant health. A scoping review. European Journal of Public Health, 27(3), 433–439. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx001

Rodriguez, D. X., Hill, J., & McDaniel, P. N. (2021). A Scoping Review of Literature About Mental Health and Well-Being Among Immigrant Communities in the United States. Health promotion practice, 22(2), 181–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839920942511

Semprini, J. (2020), "A systematic review on the health of African immigrants in the United States: synthesizing recommendations for future research", International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 121-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-02-2019-0021

Martinez, O., Wu, E., Sandfort, T., Dodge, B., Carballo-Dieguez, A., Pinto, R., Rhodes, S. D., Moya, E., Chavez-Baray, S. (2015). Evaluating the impact of immigration policies on health status among undocumented immigrants: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(3), 947–970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9968-4

Pannetier, J., Lert, F., Jauffret Roustide, M., & du Loû, A. D. (2017). Mental health of sub-saharan african migrants: The gendered role of migration paths and transnational ties. SSM - population health, 3, 549–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.06.003