The Effects of Whiteness on the Mental Health Services of African Americans in the USA

Abstract

The topic being studied is the effects of Whiteness on the mental health services of African Americans in the United States. It is unknown how white mental health clinicians adapt their professional practices when working with African American patients and what barriers they identify throughout the therapeutic journeys when attempting to promote culturally competent treatment regimens. Therefore, in this proposed study, the researcher is seeking out to explore how White privilege is biasing therapeutic relationships due to African Americans having higher levels of any lifetime mental health disorders than their white counterparts (Taylor & Chatters, 2020) and experiencing strong levels of inequality and lack of cultural competency when receiving mental health treatment (The National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2020). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the perceptions of white clinicians on how they adapt their professional practices when working with African American patients. A secondary purpose of this study is to identify any barriers that white mental health clinicians experience when attempting to provide culturally competent treatment regimens to their African American patients.