Use of Professional and Informal Support by African Americans and Caribbean Blacks With Mental Disorders

Abstract

Objectives-This study investigated the use of professional services and informal support among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks with a lifetime mood, anxiety, or substance disorder.Methods-Data were from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Multinomial logistic regression was utilized to test the use of professional services only, informal support only, both, or no help at all. Analyses controlled for sociodemographic characteristics, disorder-related variables, and family network variables.Results-The analytic sample included 1,096 African Americans and 372 Caribbean Blacks. Fortyone percent used both professional services and informal support, 14% relied on professional services only, 23% used informal support only, and 22% did not receive help. There were no significant differences in help-seeking between African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. Having co-occurring mental and substance disorders, a severe 12-month disorder, more people in the informal helper network, and being female increased the likelihood of receiving help from both professional services and informal supports. When men did receive help they were more likely to rely on informal helpers. Marital status, age, and socioeconomic status were also significantly related to help-seeking.

Discrimination and Help-Seeking: Use of Professional Services and Informal Support Among African Americans, Black Caribbeans, and Non-Hispanic Whites with a Mental Disorder

“…Two other recent studies using the NSAL look at the use of professional services and informal support specifically for a mental disorder (Woodward et al 2008;Woodward et al 2011). These studies found similar patterns of helpseeking to those described previously and few differences between African Americans and black Caribbeans; however, African American men were more likely than black Caribbean men to rely on informal support alone (Woodward et al 2011).…”

“…This research has suggested that similar to African Americans, black Caribbeans underutilize mental health services ). Further, observed racial differences in informal support networks for black Caribbeans and whites do not always mirror the differences found in comparisons of African Americans with whites Woodward et al 2008;Woodward et al 2010). More research is needed to thoroughly understand how demographic, socioeconomic, social network variables and racial discrimination differentially affect help-seeking actions across these groups.…”

“…In combination with several other efforts (Neighbors and Jackson 1984;Woodward et al 2008Woodward et al , 2010Woodward et al , 2011, this study builds on this body of research to examine the use of professional services and informal support simultaneously. Using data from the National Survey of black Americans, for example, Neighbors and Jackson (1984) found that when faced with a personal problem, roughly equal proportions of African Americans used informal support or a combination of professional services and informal support, whereas much smaller proportions relied on professional services only or did not receive help at all.…”

Seeking informal and formal help for mental health problems in the community: a secondary analysis from a psychiatric morbidity survey in South London

“…A total CIS-R score of 12 or above is conventionally used to indicate the presence of common mental disorder (CMD) (to be referred to as 'cases' for subsample analyses). We further categorized individuals scoring above the threshold into having severe CMD (18+), mild/moderate CMD (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) or being healthy (0-11) and used this measure as an independent variable.…”

“…There have been a large number of studies on informal help but they have focused on specific disadvantaged groups, such as gay men with HIV [10] or partner abuse [11] or demographic groups such as young people [12], and ethnic minority groups [13,14]. Seeking help from multiple sources has also been found [13].…”