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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Briggett C Ford, ACSW, MPH, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106, (734)-763-6282, bcford@umich.edu and Harold Neighbors, PhD, Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 109 S. Observatory, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
Research on psychiatric diagnosis has very often focused on identifying disorders in the general population. Prior studies have reported general results in relation to gender and race- based differences. However, few studies have focused on the accuracy of mental health diagnosis of African-American women. This study utilized exploratory methodology to assess the rates of psychiatric disorders in a sample of 55 adult African-American females receiving treatment in a community mental health clinic. Clinical interviews were done using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) to determine primary Axis I diagnoses. The study examined two research questions. First, what is the rate of Axis I disorders among African-American women in an urban community mental health center? Second, is the SCID-I/P Axis I diagnosis concordant with the standard clinical assessment diagnosis? Women were found to meet criteria most often for lifetime prevalence of Mood Disorders, Schizoaffective Disorder, Anxiety and Substance Use Disorders. On average, the women met criteria for four separate diagnoses. Poor levels of diagnostic agreement were found between SCID and clinical diagnoses. The results suggest when considering the psychiatric diagnosis of African-American women, comorbidity should carefully be considered. Upon completion of session participants will be able to: 1) discuss the efficacy of using a semi-structured instrument such as the SCID for psychiatric diagnosis, 2) describe findings on the rates of psychiatric disorders among severely ill African American women and 3) discuss the need for using a semi-structured instrument in the psychiatric assessment of severely ill African American women.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Mental Health, African American
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.