| Popis: |
Research patterns show distinct diagnostic racial disparities in mental disorders where African Americans are disproportionately assigned a schizophrenia diagnosis at a rate that is up to four times greater compared to European Americans. Researchers have called for additional investigation beyond simple diagnostic labels into symptomatology judgments that underlie clinicians’ basis for determining a mental disorder diagnosis. This present study explored differences in licensed professional counselors’ schizophrenia symptom severity ratings based on client’s race among 101 African American and European American clients. An ex post facto cross-sectional descriptive research design was used to investigate several underlying groups of biopsychosocial symptomatology, some of which have not been previously studied: (1) psychosis-related psychological symptomatology; (2) non-psychotic psychological symptomatology; (3) social impairment-related symptomatology; and (4) dangerousness-related symptomatology. Results of MANOVA analyses showed licensed professional counselors’ do in fact statistically significantly rate schizophrenia symptomatology differently based on clients’ race. Surprisingly, counselors rated European Americans with higher severity on social impairment-related symptomatology, specifically interpersonal relationship problems and family relationship problems, compared to African Americans. Delayed help-seeking behaviors of African Americans related to these findings were discussed, including implications for counselor training and supervision, clinical practice, and recommendations for future research. |
