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Service gaps related to culturally appropriate mental health care for African immigrants
Author(s) -
Wamwayi Michael O.,
Cope Vicki,
Murray Melanie
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/inm.12622
Subject(s) - interpreter , mental health , immigration , medicine , nursing , refugee , cultural competence , health care , language barrier , qualitative research , cultural diversity , focus group , service (business) , culturally sensitive , psychology , psychiatry , business , political science , sociology , social psychology , pedagogy , social science , marketing , computer science , law , programming language
The population of overseas‐born Australians continues to grow including the recent increase of immigrants and refugees from African countries. Due to this increase, healthcare services need to assess if current available services are culturally appropriate for African immigrant inpatients . This qualitative study, with a quality improvement focus, examined current services to identify key service gaps and consider recommendation to improve care of African immigrant mental health inpatients in the hospital from the point of view of staff working within the organisation. What was revealed is that services currently offered to African mental health inpatients were culturally inappropriate. Emerging themes included inadequate interpreter services, lack of cultural awareness staff training, lack of organisation link with other services, unmet spiritual needs, use of staff/families as interpreters, culturally inappropriate information, and lack of or inadequate culturally appropriate policies and framework. Changes to current practices are recommended to provide culturally appropriate mental health care to African inpatients.