AOTA

Instructor: 

Sabrina Salvant, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Vice President of Knowledge and Professional Development

AOTA

North Bethesda, MD

Earn .1 CEU (1 contact hour/1.25 NBCOT PDU)

Description:

There are a variety of factors that negatively affect African Americans looking for and receiving mental health services. Often African American people have greater vulnerability such as being uninsured/underinsured or having access barriers due to the structure of the health care system (i.e., appointment times/day). There are communication barriers that go beyond language related to the understanding of what African Americans should do to manage mental health conditions. It must also be understood that African American people have a long history of abuse from the medical and research community that has fostered fear and mistrust of treatment. One well known case is the Tuskegee syphilis experiments.

This course will explore the historical factors that are deeply rooted in all African American psyche that results from the historical and generational trauma that is carried by African American people daily and is at the root of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors related to mental and behavioral health, help seeking behaviors, as well as medication and treatment compliance.

Learning Objectives:

Following this course, the learner will be able to:

1) Identify historical instances of racist attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that led to unequal treatment of African American people within mental healthcare and other settings.

2) Identify historical events related to mental health care that were experienced by African American individuals and communities

3) Identify how mental healthcare history has affected current mental health seeking behaviors among African Americans.            

4) Describe current mental health related manifestations experienced by African American people that can be traced to historical and more recent healthcare policies.

Instructional level: Introductory

Audience:  Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants

Topic: Domain of OT: Context