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Abstract
Introduction: African-Americans, though approximately 13% of the overall US population, make up nearly half of all the incarcerated persons (one out of the 2.3 million people), while the leading cause of incarceration is related to illicit drug use and/ or possession. Substance abuse in this population has been linked to increased mental health disorders; however, most do not receive the appropriate services that they need. This phenomenon may be due to different mental illness perceptions among minority groups, inaccurate representation of other groups with the umbrella term ‘African-American,’ and limited access to culturally sensitive treatment in consideration of slavery and colonialism.
Methods: Using semi-structured surveys, 31 African-Americans and 29 Nigerian-Americans were interviewed. These two populations were chosen on the basis that slavery would influence African-Americans and colonialism would influence Nigerian-Americans.
Results: Results show that Nigerian-Americans and Africans Americans have different viewpoints on various mental health issues such as eating and mood disorders, but also share similar viewpoints on other issues such as the negative impact of slavery and colonialism on mental health.
Conclusion: While various other themes emerged (involving religion and society), the underlying conclusion is that African-American, Nigerian-American, and other derivations of Black Americans should be considered separately when understanding mental health perceptions. Furthermore, the impact of major historical events such as slavery and colonialism should be understood when assessing mental health.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the Brown University Departments of Africana Studies and Family Medicine.
Disclaimer statements
Contributors There are no contributors to the paper.
Funding None.
Conflict of interest There are no conflicts of interests to be disclosed by any of the authors. The authors whose names are listed immediately above certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Ethics approval Ethical approval was not required for this paper. An exemption was granted by the Brown University Institutional Review Board. All measures for necessary consent and interview privacy were taken. Participants were made aware of how information will be used.
ORCID
Victoria Adewale http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2431-8972
Notes
1 African American is most broadly defined as peoples of African descent, born and raised in North America. Anglo-Saxon whites are defined broadly as being people with English Protestant ancestry whose social or financial power is disproportionate to others. For African, the focus group is narrowed down to “Nigerian-American,” which is defined as those born and raised in Nigeria who have immigrated to North America.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Victoria Adewale
Victoria Adewale is a first year medical school student at the University of Virginia. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Brown University.
Dianne Ritchie
Dr Dianne Ritchie is clinical assistant of family medicine as well as an affiliated faculty of Africana Studies at Brown University.
Sarah Everhart Skeels
Sarah Skeels teaches the only Disability Studies class in the Public Health and Policy Department at Brown University. She is also a teaching associate in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown.