The Impact of community-level interventions on improving help seeking
and access to support among ethnic minority people living with psychotic
disorders in non-secondary care settings: A systematic review.
Abstract
Aim: Research has shown that people from ethnic minority
backgrounds living with psychosis are less likely to seek support from
healthcare professionals (e.g. GP), but more likely to seek support from
non-healthcare professionals (e.g. faith leaders). This systematic
review assessed the impact of community-level interventions aimed at
improving help seeking and access to support for psychosis in
non-secondary care settings among ethnic minority populations.
Methods: The EMBASE, PsychINFO, Medline Ultimate, CINAHL
Ultimate and Scopus databases were searched in December 2023. Studies
were included if published in English, conducted in high-income
countries, reported on psychosis and minority ethnic groups aged 18-65
years, and interventions targeted at people from minority ethnic groups
with or at risk of psychosis, caregivers, or the general public.
Outcomes of interest were changes in help-seeking behaviours, pathways
to care characteristics and barriers and facilitators of intervention
implementation. Results: Five studies reporting two
interventions met the inclusion criteria. All studies were conducted in
the United States. Narrative synthesis revealed mixed results about the
effectiveness of interventions on help seeking and duration of untreated
psychosis. However, the results show promise for professional
help-seeking recommendations post-intervention across the studies.
Barriers and facilitators were identified for intervention
implementation. Conclusions: Community-level interventions have
some success in promoting help-seeking for psychosis in ethnic minority
populations. However, research in this area was limited. Future research
could include studies across different countries, ethnicities, genders
and socioeconomic status to ensure generalisable results.