Background of the Problem and Problem Statement- Mental health 

Background of the Problem and Problem Statement- Mental health 

Part One: Background

Mental health is an important aspect of individual and community wellness. It has profound effects on interpersonal interactions and considerably influences individuals’ behaviour and adoption of healthier life choices (Samartzis & Talias, 2019). In the pursuit of community prosperity and wellness, healthcare systems are increasingly emphasizing the need to enhance mental healthcare across communities. While this has had a positive impact on mental healthcare in some jurisdictions, some areas lag in their efforts to enhance mental health care. This calls for a concerted effort to enhance mental healthcare worldwide. Further, poor access to mental health care continues to undermine global efforts towards enhancing mental healthcare. Snowden et al. (2022) note that many people across the globe are unable to meet their healthcare needs. This has been attributable to the poor availability of mental healthcare resources, poor acceptability of the available mental health resources, and poor affordability of mental healthcare services.

To begin with, poor availability of mental healthcare services and resources is a contributory factor to lack of access to mental healthcare. Poor availability of mental healthcare services and resources results when the number of mental healthcare facilities is incommensurate to the populations served. This is the case in resource-limited settings where mental healthcare facilities are deficient (Muhorakeye & Biracyaza, 2021). In such settings, the lack of healthcare investments in mental healthcare facilities makes it difficult to establish mental healthcare facilities, denying communities access to the facilities. Poor availability of mental healthcare can also result from geographical location and proximity challenges. People living in remote areas and far-flung areas may be unable to access mental healthcare facilities easily. This further underlines the need to invest in bringing mental healthcare services closer to the people.

Poor accessibility of mental healthcare may also be due to poor affordability of existing mental healthcare services. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the high cost of mental healthcare, coupled with the lack of insurance coverage in some communities, remains a driving force for diminished access to high-quality mental healthcare (Muhorakeye & Biracyaza, 2021). This is especially pronounced in impoverished communities, where the lack of insurance coverage is high. In these communities, individuals are unable to access mental healthcare services because they cannot afford it.

Poor access to mental healthcare can also be a result of low acceptability of the available mental healthcare services and resources. This is especially common in cultures with divergent beliefs on aspects of health such as perception of disease and illness, healthcare seeking, and Westernized medicines. Samartzis and Talias (2019) note that the adoption of mental healthcare resources is particularly low in cultures that don’t believe that mental health disorders are actual illnesses that require healthcare interventions. In these cultures, mental health illnesses are belittled and sometimes associated with sorcery, witchcraft, and evil spirits. This considerably lowers the mental healthcare-seeking behaviours of individuals from these communities. Poor perception of mental health illnesses has also been linked with social stigma against these illnesses, further diminishing the mental healthcare-seeking behaviour of the affected persons.

Low health literacy levels have also been associated with poor accessibility of mental healthcare services. Lack of knowledge of mental health illnesses has been associated with poor healthcare-seeking behaviour and, subsequently, poor mental health accessibility (Muhorakeye & Biracyaza, 2021). Individuals who are not knowledgeable about mental health illnesses and their impact on health are unlikely to seek mental healthcare services.

Poor access to mental healthcare is apparent across communities. However, ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by poor access to mental healthcare than the ethnic majority groups (Snowden et al., 2022). The unmet mental healthcare needs of these ethnic minorities remain high even as the prevalence of mental health illnesses increases in these groups (Thomeer et al., 2022). This highlights the need to address mental health illnesses in ethnic minority groups.

Poor access to mental healthcare has profound effects on individuals’ and communities’ wellness. To begin with, a lack of access to mental healthcare may result in significant health deterioration in persons with mental health illnesses. Muhorakeye and Biracyaza (2021) note that poor access to high-quality mental healthcare may cause disease exacerbation with consequent functional decline in patients with mental health illnesses. This will result in loss of productivity, reduced work and school days, and hospital visitations. An increase in mortality rates may also be apparent when people with mental health illnesses do not seek mental healthcare. This highlights the need to address poor access to mental healthcare.

Poor access to mental healthcare may also have negative economic impacts on individuals and communities. Deficient mental healthcare services and resources may cause treatment gaps in patients with mental health illnesses, forcing the patient and their families to shoulder the burden of addressing the gaps. For instance, patients living in far-flung areas spend more trying to access mental healthcare resources. Likewise, communities may have to incur extra costs to access mental healthcare services due to the high cost of managing these illnesses. The overall economic baggage of mental health illnesses further makes the services unattractive to some communities and highlights the need to address the problem.

Part Two: Problem Statement

The problem is poor access to mental healthcare among ethnic minority groups, resulting in decreased consumption of mental healthcare resources and increased morbidity, mortality, and functional decline associated with mental health illnesses.

References

Muhorakeye, O., & Biracyaza, E. (2021). Exploring barriers to mental health services utilization at Kabutare District Hospital of Rwanda: Perspectives from patients. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638377

Samartzis, L., & Talias, M. A. (2019). Assessing and improving the quality of mental health services. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1), 249. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010249

Snowden, L. R., Cordell, K., & Bui, J. (2022). Racial and ethnic disparities in health status and community functioning among persons with untreated mental illness. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(5), 2175–2184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01397-1

Thomeer, M. B., Moody, M. D., & Yahirun, J. (2022). Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health and mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(2), 961–976. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01284-9

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Part 1: Background of the Problem

Locate 2 or 3 peer-reviewed scholarly articles (published within the last 5 years) from the University Library that address your proposed problem.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word introduction to the problem in which you:

Provide a description and background of the identified problem.
Use scholarly articles to support the existence of the problem. Be sure to use a scholarly voice.

Part 2: Problem Statement

View the Dissertation Series Tutorial – Problem Formulation.

Review the Problem Statement Worksheet from this week’s Discussion 2 and then review the two sample problems below:

SAMPLE PROBLEM 1: The problem is husbands caring for wives with breast cancer have a demanding caretaking schedule, failing to practice personal self-care (LeSeure & Chongkham-ang, 2015).

SAMPLE PROBLEM 2: The problem is despite extreme workplace stress, police officers lack stress management skills, resulting in diminished health, family life, and work performance (Toers-Bijins, 2012).

Based on the materials and the peer-review from DQ2, write a 1-sentence original problem statement for a prospective study you might conduct using the format below: