An investigation of mental health inequalities related to race and ethnicity in psychological therapy services

Objective

Prior evidence suggests that people from racial/ethnic minority (REM) groups experience greater psychological distress, especially if they are isolated from their cultural ingroup. This study examined associations between REM status and psychological symptoms measured before and after therapy, as well as interactions with neighbourhood-level REM density.

Method

Electronic health records from 130,857 patients who accessed psychological interventions in primary care services in England were analyzed. Pre- and post-treatment depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and functional impairment measures (WSAS) were linked to individual-level and neighbourhood-level demographic and socioeconomic data. Multilevel (mixed effect) models were used to examine associations between individual and neighbourhood socioeconomic variables with available measures of psychological distress.

Results

Specific (rather than all) REM groups had higher indices of psychological distress, and there was little evidence of a moderating effect of neighbourhood ethnic density in the hypothesized direction. After controlling for socioeconomic variables, consistently higher indices of distress before and after therapy were evident for patients from White-other, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and “Other” backgrounds.

Conclusions

Mental health inequalities are evident for people from specific REM groups.