Public health interventions can address gaps in mental health status for people from ethnoracial communities linked to socioeconomic disadvantage, according to a new model proposed in Preventing Chronic Disease.

Previous research has consistently found that people from racial and ethnic minorities with mental illnesses are more likely to be diagnosed with certain disorders such as schizophrenia but less likely to receive optimal care or newer treatments. People from ethnoracial communities can also face a range of barriers in accessing mental health specialist services such as cost, language and lack of transportation. In the United States, immigrants are less likely to have health insurance than other Americans.

The model proposed by the author situates mental health at the intersection of social factors, public health interventions and outcomes. Many of the social determinants impacting mental health, such as homelessness, poverty, incarceration or racism are higher among ethnoracial minorities. Interventions and outcomes such as targeting programs to underserviced communities, improving equitable access to culturally competent care, or initiatives that support community participation can help to protect mental health and well-being from the negative impact of low socioeconomic status.

See "The Role of Public Health in Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Mental Illness," Preventing Chronic Disease (2010; 7[1]: ), available atwww.cdc.gov/PCD.