Strategies for Naming and Addressing Structural Racism in Immigrant Mental Health.

Immigrants account for 13.7% of the US population, and the great majority of these individuals originate from Latin America or Asia. Immigrant communities experience striking inequities in mental health care, particularly lower rates of mental health service use despite significant stressors. Structural barriers are a significant deterrent to obtaining needed care and are often rooted in racist policies and assumptions. Here we review and summarize key pathways by which underlying structural racism contributes to disparities in immigrant mental health, including anti-immigration policies, labor and financial exploitation, and culturally insensitive mental health services. Significant accumulated research evidence regarding these barriers has failed to translate into structural reform and financial investment required to address them, resulting in pronounced costs to both immigrant populations and society at large. We propose specific strategies for addressing relevant structural inequities, including reforming economic and financial policies, community education initiatives, and task-sharing and strengths-based interventions developed in partnership with immigrant communities to promote access to mental health care for populations in dire need of culturally appropriate services. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(S1): S72-S79. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307165).

Testing positive, losing a loved one, and financial hardship: Real-world impacts of COVID-19 on US college student distress.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a particularly heavy toll on U.S. college students. In addition to facing academic-related stress and social pressures, these individuals are now increasingly susceptible to experiences such as contracting the virus, losing loved ones to COVID-19, or facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. The effects of such personal, pandemic-related experiences on young adult mental health - and the inherent racial disparities within these outcomes - remain largely understudied. METHODS: We analyzed 65,568 undergraduate students from the Spring 2021 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA). RESULTS: The rates of the aforementioned COVID-19-related stressors were unevenly distributed across racial groups. A logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of moderate and serious psychological distress revealed that participants who had experienced the death of a loved one had 1.14 times greater odds of developing psychological distress (p < 0.0001). Those who experienced financial hardship had an odds ratio of 1.78 (p < 0.0001). Surprisingly, testing positive for COVID-19 was associated with an odds ratio of 0.82 of psychological distress (p < 0.0001). LIMITATIONS: Self-reported measures are susceptible to recall bias and misinterpretation. Exposure and outcome variables were measured simultaneously in this cross-sectional study which limits inference on causality. CONCLUSIONS: Financial burdens and bereavement are especially impactful stressors among college students during the pandemic, whereas contracting COVID-19 seemingly exhibits less impact on distress levels. When addressing student wellbeing, institutions should consider prioritizing the implementation of resources to support individuals affected by pandemic-related financial and familial losses.