This presentation will provide an overview of various data collection challenges encountered in the areas of language, culture, as well as racial and ethnic identifiers. Based on the assumption that members of minority groups tend to underutilize mental health services, special efforts were put in place to recruit Latinos in this study. Various strategies were implemented to accomplish this goal. An emergency site located in a geographical area with a large concentration of Latinos was designated as a recruitment site for the study. Since potential participants needed to contact the research team via telephone in order to participate in the study, a Spanish “1-800” number was set up for Latino Spanish speakers. Interview schedules and consent forms were translated into Spanish and bilingual (English/Spanish) interviewers were trained to conduct interviews in Spanish. In addition to this, indepth interviews were conducted with Latino participants to assess sociocultural dimensions of perception of quality of care. Some of these dimensions included migration experience, acculturation, language preference, and pathways to mental health services as well as ingroup conceptions of quality of care and satisfaction with mental health services. Finally, once the data were collected it was found that 36% of the sample had inconsistent information regarding racial and ethnic identifiers. This paper will report on how those inconsistencies were deciphered using multiple databases.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to: 1. Articulate the importance of incorporating cultural sensitive data collection procedures in mental health research with culturally diverse populations; 2. Discuss how sociocultural factors might affect perceptions of quality of mental health care; 3. Recognize the importance of developing multiple strategies to collect data on racial and ethnic identifiers.
Keywords: Minorities, Mental Health Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.