African Americans and Depression: The Development of a Culturally Competent Depression Scale for Reducing Treatment Disparities| Chapter 11 | Issues and Development in Health Research Vol. 2
African Americans are more likely than Whites to be depressed for longer periods of time. In the traditional healthcare system, African Americans are frequently misdiagnosed and undertreated. The symptoms of depression among African Americans, according to research, are contradictory with the DSM-V. Previous Depressive scales did not reflect the depression symptoms of African Americans in a culturally competent manner. The treatment discrepancies among African Americans are discussed in this chapter, as well as the need for new culturally acceptable depression scales. To account for racism and psychosocial factors that contribute to depression in African Americans, the researcher created a depression scale. African Americans are less likely to obtain consistent high-quality care and follow evidence-based treatment standards (e.g., pharmaceutical therapy or psychotherapy), as well as being excluded from research studies. Depression assessment tools must be culturally sensitive. Wh...