Over the last decade, Baltimore has become a non-traditional sanctuary city, receiving an unprecedented influx of Latino immigrants, mostly from Central America's Northern Triangle, who are often fleeing violence in their home countries. This study explored the nature and frequency of healthcare utilization for mental health problems among uninsured/uninsurable Latinos who received outpatient care between 2012 and 2015 through an academic hospital-affiliated program that covers primary and specialty services to uninsured patients without regard to documentation status. Encounters for mental health disorders were the most common category, accounting for 14.88% of all visits. Mood (78%) and anxiety disorders (16%) were the most prevalent mental health diagnoses. The most frequent reason to seek care was symptom, signs, and ill-defined conditions (37.47%), and within this subgroup, pain was the leading cause of seeking care (88%), which may indicate high rates of somatization of mental health distress. This study presents a unique opportunity to explore the burden and nature of mental health needs among a population for which healthcare information is rarely attainable and highlights the need for culturally competent screening mechanisms and interventions to address the stressors faced by emergent communities.
Objective. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether Latina and African American women with arthritis-related knee pain and primary care providers who treat them believe their treatment decisions would benefit from having more information about the impact of treatment on their quality of life, medical care costs, and work productivity.Methods. We conducted 4 focus groups of Latina and African American women over age 45 years who had knee pain. We also conducted 2 focus groups with primary care providers who treated Latina and African American women for knee pain. The participants were recruited from the community. They were asked their opinions about a decision tool that presented information on a range of treatment options and their impacts on quality of life, medical care costs, and work productivity. They were asked whether providing this information would help them make better treatment decisions. We analyzed the focus group transcripts using ATLAS.ti.Results. We found that minority women and primary care providers endorsed the use of a decision-making tool that provided information of the impact of treatment on quality of life, medical care costs, and work productivity. Providers felt that patients would benefit from having the additional information but were concerned about its complexity and some patients' ability to comprehend the information.Conclusion. Latina and African American women could make more informed treatment decisions for their knee pain using a decision-making tool that provides them with significant information about how various treatment options may impact their quality of life, medical care costs, and workforce productivity.
RESUMENIntroducción: las mujeres con trastornos por consumo de sustancias (TCS) presentan mayor prevalencia de patología dual (PD) en comparación a los hombres con la misma condición, entendiendo la PD como la concurrencia de TCS con otros trastornos psiquiátricos (OTP). Esta relación genera consecuencias negativas en la severidad de la sintomatología y en el tratamiento de ambas condiciones. Objetivo: analizar las características clínicas e historia de tratamiento de mujeres con PD. Método: evaluación clíni-ca psiquiátrica de mujeres que recibían atención en dos centros residenciales. Se compararon las características y trastornos en función de los tratamientos previos, utilizando GEE para determinar las diferencias de las prescripciones de medicamentos en el tiempo. Resultados: se analizaron los datos de 100 pacientes mujeres, de las cuales 30 dijeron no haber recibido tratamientos previos y menos de 20% reportó padecimientos médicos de importancia. Las pacientes con trastorno límite de la personalidad presentaron una tercera parte de la probabilidad de reportar tratamientos previos con respecto a las pacientes sin esta condición (OR = .33; IC 95% .13-.84). Se encontraron diferencias significativas a través del tiempo en antidepresivos (17.6% vs 41.8%; p<.05), moduladores del afecto (12.1% vs 32.7%; p<.05), antipsicóticos (15.4% vs 48.0%; p<.05) y otros (4.4% vs 29.6%; p<.05). Discusión y conclusiones: este estudio representa una aproximación basada en una evaluación clínica de mujeres con PD, en la que el cambio a través del tiempo en las prescripciones de medicamentos puede estar asociado a necesidades de tratamiento farmacológico no atendidas adecuadamente.Palabras clave: patología dual; tratamiento residencial; tratamiento farmacológico. ABSTRACTIntroduction: women with substance use disorders (SUD) are more likely to endorse dual disorders (DD) in comparison to men with the same condition, defining DD as the co-occurrence of SUD with other psychiatric disorders (OPD). This relationship causes negative consequences in the severity of the symptomatology and treatment of both conditions. Objective: to analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment history of women with DD. Method: psychiatric interview of women receiving treatment in two residential treatment centers. Disorders and their characteristics were compared in relation to previous treatments, GEE was used to determine the differences in medical prescriptions over time. Results: data from 100 women was analyzed, 30 of them reported not having received any previous treatments, and less than 20% reported important medical illness. Women with borderline personality disorder had approximately a third of the odds of reporting previous treatments (OR= .33; IC 95% .13-.84). Significant differences were found in antidepressant (17.6% vs 41.8%; p<.05), mood stabilizers (12.1% vs 32.7%; p<.05), antipsychotics (15.4% vs 48.0%; p<.05), others (4.4% vs 29.6%; p<.05) over time. Discussion and conclusions: this study represents an approximation based on the cl...
Latino immigrants face many stressors before, during, and after migration to the U.S., but there are few mental health services available to help them cope with this transition. We established free group sessions moderated by bilingual therapists to address the unmet mental health needs of Latino immigrants.
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