Black and minority ethnic groups (BME) suicide, admission with suicide or self-harm: an inner city study

Community-centred interventions for improving public mental health among adults from ethnic minority populations in the UK: a scoping review

Objectives

Undertake a scoping review to determine the effectiveness of community-centred interventions designed to improve the mental health and well-being of adults from ethnic minority groups in the UK.

Methods

We searched six electronic academic databases for studies published between January 1990 and September 2019: Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Scopus, CINAHL and Cochrane. For intervention description and data extraction we used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist and Template for Intervention Description and Replication guide. Quality was assessed using Cochrane risk of bias tools. Grey literature results were deemed beyond the scope of this review due to the large number of interventions and lack of available outcomes data.

Results

Of 4501 studies, 7 met the eligibility criteria of UK-based community interventions targeting mental health in adults from ethnic minority populations: four randomised controlled trials, one pre/post-pilot study, one cross-sectional study and one ethnographic study. Interventions included therapy-style sessions, peer-support groups, educational materials, gym access and a family services programme. Common components included a focus on tackling social isolation, using lay health workers from within the community, signposting and overcoming structural barriers to access. Four studies reported a statistically significant positive effect on mental health outcomes and six were appraised as having a high risk of bias. Study populations were ethnically heterogeneous and targeted people mainly from South Asia. No studies examined interventions targeting men.

Conclusions

There is a paucity of high-quality evidence regarding community-centred interventions focused on improving public mental health among ethnic minority groups. Decision makers need scientific evidence to inform effective approaches to mitigating health disparities. Our next steps are to map promising community activities and interventions that are currently being provided to help identify emerging evidence.

Suicide Risk among Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities: A Literature Overview

Recent studies have demonstrated that immigrants and ethnic minorities may be at higher risk of suicidal behaviour as compared to the general population. We conducted a literature search to identify studies in English from 1980 to 2017 related to suicide risk among immigrants and ethnic minorities. Six hundred and seventy-eight reports were screened, and 43 articles were included in the qualitative synthesis of the review. Some studies reported lower rates of suicide attempts, while other findings suggested higher rates of suicidal behaviour and deaths among immigrants as compared to the native population. Also, a positive correlation was found between suicidal behaviour and specific countries of origin. Non-European immigrant women were at the highest risk for suicide attempts, a group which included young women of South Asian and black African origin. Risk factors among migrants and ethnic minorities were found to be: language barriers, worrying about family back home, and separation from family. The lack of information on health care system, loss of status, loss of social network, and acculturation were identified as possible triggers for suicidal behaviour. Overall, results suggest that specific migrant populations and ethnic minorities present a higher risk of suicidal behaviour than native populations, as well as a higher risk of death by suicide.