African American Males with Mental Health Problems - Research Paper Example

?ANAZARIS SANTOS African American males with mental health problems who are of low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive treatment for those problems than are African American males with mental health problems who are not of low socioeconomic status. Dr. Senreich May 15, 2012 Research Hypothesis This research work is plinth upon following research hypothesis: Research Hypothesis: African American males with mental health problems who are of low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive treatment for those problems than are African American males with mental health problems who are not of low socioeconomic status. Summary of Literature Review The review of three different research articles has been conducted for supporting the proposed subject matter. Chow, Jaffee and Snowden in the year of 2003 concluded that in the High Poverty Areas African-American males, along with those individuals who belong to some other minority groups, are standing at odds to get the hold of quality mental health treatment on their own basis as compared to those African-Americans males who belong to the affluent community or Low Poverty Area’s (LPA). They further reported that the social service providers or agencies are most likely to provide such services to those who belong to HPAs; moreover, there are some cases in which law-enforcement agencies correspond with them to endow this community with certain mental health services than to the individuals in the LPAs. Chow, Jaffee & Snowden (2003) came up with all-inclusive outcomes in this regard for the male population of African-American’s in the United States by representing 30.3% of such incidences among the total sample population in their conducted survey; on the other hand, this representation with respect to the total populace is somewhere around 25%. The literature review above is a clear case of disparity in the legal system as well as disparity in the distribution of national resources. This should be a major case for worry people of the indication that not all people within the African American community receive the same treatment from State authorities. As a matter of fact, the health needs of the citizenry should be something that should be considered with the best of vigilance and fairness. This is because of the important role that quality healthcare plays in the economic and general development and growth of the country. It is observed that more health among the citizenry accounts for up to 12% of all cases of under production in various departments, organizations and companies (Chow, Jaffe and Snowden, 2003). The relation that this statistics have with the above literature is that if the anomaly of healthcare provision disparities are not addressed, the high poverty areas of America will continue to experience poverty. This is because the indwellers will not be in a position to give off their best in working for the country. Contradicting to Chow et al, Thornton & Carter in the year of 1975 put forward their discussion in which they highlight the projected theme by establishing their firmly researched statements that the African-American males who come up with poor financial status clearly depict lack of access to mental health services for their mental illness just because of their poverty, diminutive social status and poor relations with the higher authorities and thus, they are exposed to such social discrimination by having minimal access to mental health services by all means. There are a plenty of researches and literatures in this context which evidently draw that for ensuring the access of poor African-American to mental health services for their mental health treatments there must be an approach adopted by the concerned communal groups to endow the deprived African-Americans with the medical services so that they can meet their psychological needs and an unbiased environment could be established within the same community of people belonging to same race and creed. In inference, Chow et al, Thornton & Carter are advocating the urgency and need of addressing the economic situation of African Americans with poor financial status. This is because their research concluded that the major problem faced by people within this population with mental health problems is due to their inability to afford quality healthcare. Again, the problems are attributed to poor economic status that makes it difficult for them to take part in normal social engagements that could otherwise help them overcome their mental stress and other mental health related problems. This is indeed a right call by the researchers because as much as there may be public health programs to cater for the health needs of African Americans who live in poverty prone areas, it would be also important for them to be in a position to access basic private health facilities to supplement what they receive from the public sector. What is more, apart from the medical interventions, it is important for male African Americans to use other social means of relieving them of their mental disorders. This is because most of these social interventions are effective in preventing complications. Apart from that, Alegria, Canino, Rios, Vera, Calderon, Rusch & Ortega in 2002 come up with clear depicted of significant variations in demographic features and facilities, levels of income and expansion, as well as financial sustainability along with the access and consumption of several mental health services for the mental illness reported by American-American’s. They found out that the Latino along with African-Americans depicted high levels of poverty in their surveyed sample and thus, these individuals encompassed lack of access and consumption of mental health treatment for their mental health diagnosis as compared to those who are socially rich and financially stable. Methodology Participants The case study shall be limited to two particular churches and counseling center in New York City. These churches and counseling center are Urban Glory Church in the Bronx and Wall Street Counseling Center. Subsequently, all male African American patients in these churches and counseling center shall constitute the population of the study. There is an estimated one hundred and twenty one (121) male African American patients in these two churches and counseling center. Out of the total population, the researcher shall develop a sample size that will be made up of ten (10) male African American patients from the two churches and counseling center. There shall be an equal number of respondents from each of the two churches and counseling center. This means that each of the churches and counseling center shall produce five (5) respondents. The researcher shall adapt a purposive sampling technique to select members of the sample size. By purposive sampling technique, the researcher shall hand pick respondents based on certain variables. Purposive sampling technique is a type of non-probability sampling technique and highly appropriate for the present research design (Stenbacka, 2001). This is because a purposive sampling technique will offer the researcher the opportunity to include only subjects or participants who meet certain defined criteria. In qualitative research of this nature, it is important that the researcher can rely on the sample size in testing the validity or otherwise of the hypothesis set. It is for this reason that the researcher shall use a purposive sampling technique rather than a random sampling technique. The defined criteria to be used by the researcher includes male African American mental health patients who are aged between 20 and 50 years old and who have been diagnosed with an Axis I disorder and are currently receiving mental health treatment. Procedure The researcher shall employ the use of a research instrument that will help in the collection of data from respondents. Salina (2009) observes that for qualitative research of this nature, interviews are the most preferred and appropriate research instrument for primary data collection. Salina (2009) also mentions the use of literature review for secondary data collection. To this effect, the researcher shall use interview and literature log as research instruments. The researcher shall also use structured and recorded observation as an auxiliary research instrument. The interview shall be a structured one. For this reason, the researcher shall prepare an interview guide that will make it possible to pose the same question to all respondents. The interview is deemed very appropriate for this research because it shall offer the researcher to collect firs hand data from respondents. Because the current research is backed by sociology, it is important that the researcher have an understanding of the personal feelings and emotions of respondents on the topic at hand (Salina, 2009). This is an objective that the interview is going to help in achieving because it is going to be a face-to-face interview where the researcher shall have a visual interpretation of the feelings and emotions of respondents about their mental health conditions. The literature log on the other hand is going to be useful in collecting data from existing literature. It is important to have the log in place because it will aid in the selection of appropriate and academically relevant literary works that have bearing on the present research. Finally, the structured observation shall be used to collect data from records of the respondents from the health facility administrators. Some of these records shall include discussable health history of respondents. Analysis The selection of a research design for the current research is based on the idea of qualitative research where the researcher shall present and analyze data without the use of complex mathematical representations but based on the drawing of inferences and implications to data collection. From this end, the researcher shall adapt the use of a case study research design. It will be noted that case studies present the researcher with an opportunity of selecting a single case and applying comprehensive scientific diagnosis to the case (Saunders, 2007). For the current research, the case under study is the kind of treatment that male African Americans with mental health problems received based on whether or not they are from low socioeconomic backgrounds. For case studies, the researcher always limits the data collection to a confined setting that can easily be monitored. It will be noted that this is extremely important for ensuring that the researcher can have a total overview of all variables and concepts that exists within the given environment. A similar approach shall be used in this case study to ensure that the researcher deals with a restricted number of respondents. This would also be very appropriate for the qualitative research because unlike a quantitative research where the researcher may have the opportunity of using certain technology based software to aid in the data collection and analysis process, the researcher would have to limit the research setting in order to create proximity with the respondents and the data to be collected. Qualitative Study The data collection procedure shall take a well structured pattern and shall involve the use of all three research instruments in a coherent manner. The first leg on the data collection procedure shall be the secondary data collection where the researcher shall collect from existing literature. This means that the literature log shall be the first research instrument to be used. The researcher shall make a selection of a couple of academic articles that treat the topic of health care among male African Americans based on their socioeconomic status. The researcher shall then develop a number of research themes including racial/ethnic disparities in the use of mental health services in poverty areas; improving mental health services to low income blacks and inequalities in use of specialty mental health services among Latinos, African Americans, and non-Latino whites. Within the themes, a lot of data shall be collected including such facts as who an African American is; the definition of poverty in the African American community; among others. Major findings from the articles shall be recorded in the literature log for further analysis. Following the secondary data collection procedure, the researcher shall use primary data collection to collect personal data from the research setting, which are the Urban Health Plan Clinic in the Bronx and the Wall Street Counseling Center. The primary data collection shall offer the researcher to collect first hand data that is unadulterated. The first instrument to be used in the primary data collection shall be the structured observation, which shall be used to collect data from the administrators of the churches and counseling center on the rate of progress of patients. Officials that depict the socioeconomic status of respondents, if available shall also be observed and recorded. Next to this, the researcher shall interview all ten (10) respondents. Because the number of respondents is not so large, the researcher shall use a total of five days whereby two (2) respondents shall be interviewed on each day. Not much questions shall asked from respondents as the structured observation shall supplement for most of the data needed from the respondents. The interview shall therefore be made up of fifteen questions spread among the three major themes on the literature log. Some basic data such as the respondent’s access to health insurance that covers mental health services shall be asked. It must be noted that with the number of respondents, the researcher is highly open with options that will make it possible to explore a lot of socioeconomic questions about the respondents. On the average, a total of thirty shall be spent with each respondent. This means that the researcher shall use three hundred (300) minutes, which is equivalent to one hour per day. Data Analysis Plan A co-relational analysis procedure shall be adapted at the data analysis stage of the research. This shall be used in a qualitative manner whereby the researcher shall be draw inferences from the secondary data collected to the primary data collected. But the actual correlation shall not be in terms of the data from secondary sources and primary sources. Rather, the researcher shall analyze data in terms of the level of treatment received by male African Americans from with low socioeconomic status as compared to those with high socioeconomic status. This correlation shall aid in testing the hypothesis, which is stated as “African American males with mental health problems who are of low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive treatment for those problems than are African American males with mental health problems who are not of low socioeconomic status.” Some of the core areas that the researcher shall analyze at the data analysis stage shall include the general trend of socioeconomic status of patients who receive treatment from the two churches and counseling center, the degree to which patients receive treatment and the relationship that this have on their socioeconomic status, the rate of progress made in treatment received and the relation it has with their socioeconomic status, the cause of mental problems and the relation it has on socioeconomic status, and the degree of support received from family and friends and the relation it has on socioeconomic status of respondents. The researcher shall not employ the use of any technology based software to present or discuss the data. All data shall be presented and discussed using the researcher’s own judgments, backed by the literature review. Discussions Strengths and Limitations of Research methods There are certain strengths of the designed research methods, like all the techniques and tools used are assumed to lead the researcher to the required information as, the research tools, designs, survey and interviews reflect many findings and facts that are based on personal opinions thus are useful in suggesting effective measures to the concerned authorities for designing their future plans. The designed research model is could limit the research work if the responses are misinterpreted or are treated with biasness. Validity of the Research Methodology Internal as well as external validity and reliability have usually been interpreted differently by different scholars due to different means and modes that are being used to affirm these two attributes in any research work. This statement can be comprehended on the basis of the fact that there are many researchers who contemplate these two attributes as the means of accurate and on the time findings (Stenbacka, 2001). On the other hand, another group of researchers reflect that a research work is valid and reliable when it undertakes elaborated measurements of generality concept, the solemnity and the mean of gauging sustainability and the designed research methods are appeared to be valid as it can bring about all the afore-mentioned attributes of validity. Ethical Treatment of Data For research, the treatment of data collected and its handling is a very important step so as to enhance the reliability and authenticity of the research work. Therefore, in this research work, comprehensive treatment of gathered information is carefully accumulated and assembled and it has been largely monitored that not even a single bit of information is negatively used. Works Cited Alegria, M., Canino, G., Rios, R., Vera, M., Calderon, J., Rusch, D. & Ortega, A. (2002). Inequalities in Use of Specialty Mental Health Services among Latinos, African Americans, and Non-Latino Whites. Psychiatric Services 53(12): 1547-1555. Chow, C., Jaffee, K. & Snowden, L. (2003). Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Mental Health Services in Poverty Areas. American Journal of Public Health 93(5): 792-797. Salina, C. (2009). Quality in qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 5(4), 465-478. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2007). Research methods for business students 4th ed. Prentice Hall: London. Stenbacka, C. (2001). Qualitative research requires quality concepts of its own. Management Decision, 39(7), 551-555. Thornton, C. & Carter, J. (1975). Improving Mental Health Services to Low Income Blacks. Journal of the National Medical Association 67(2): 167-170. Read More