Racism, early psychosis, and institutional contact: A qualitative study of Indigenous experiences.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence of Indigenous and ethnic minority inequities in the incidence and outcomes of early psychosis. Racism has been implicated as having an important role. AIM: To use Indigenous experiences to develop a more detailed understanding of how racism operates to impact early psychosis outcomes. METHODS: Critical Race Theory informed the methodology used. Twenty-three Indigenous participants participated in four family focus group interviews and thirteen individual interviews, comprising of 9 Maori youth with early psychosis, 10 family members and 4 Maori mental health professionals. An analysis of the data was undertaken using deductive structural coding to identify descriptions of racism, followed by inductive descriptive and pattern coding. RESULTS: Participant experiences revealed how racism operates as a socio-cultural phenomenon that interacts with institutional policy and culture across systems pertaining to social responsiveness, risk discourse, and mental health service structures. This is described across three major themes: 1) selective responses based on racial stereotypes, 2) race related risk assessment bias and 3) institutional racism in the mental health workforce. The impacts of racism were reported as inaction in the face of social need, increased use of coercive practices and an under resourced Indigenous mental health workforce. CONCLUSION: The study illustrated the inter-related nature of interpersonal, institutional and structural racism with examples of interpersonal racism in the form of negative stereotypes interacting with organizational, socio-cultural and political priorities. These findings indicate that organizational cultures may differentially impact Indigenous and minority people and that social responsiveness, risk discourse and the distribution of workforce expenditure are important targets for anti-racism efforts.

Is there systemic bias for Maori with eating disorders? A need for greater awareness in the healthcare system.

The New Zealand Mental Health Survey, Te Rau Hinengaro, indicated that eating disorders are at least as common in Maori as non-Maori, which is consistent with international findings that eating disorders exist in other indigenous and ethnic minority groups. Specific factors may be relevant to the development and treatment of eating disorders in the Maori population. We suggest this may include differential exposure to risk factors, the impact of acculturation, changing body image ideals and systemic bias reducing access to treatment and research participation. However, an absence of high-quality research regarding eating disorders in Maori makes it difficult to be certain about this. We suspect that Maori do not receive treatment in specialist eating disorders services at a level commensurate with comparable prevalence data in New Zealand and that a significant contributory factor to the apparent unmet need for Maori with eating disorders is likely to be systemic bias. Urgent attention to this area of research is required.