Mental Health Disparities Research

An essential element in promoting mental health equity is to build a valid evidence base to ensure effective treatment and care for all people who experience mental illnesses. This requires an inclusive research enterprise where members of racial, ethnic, and sexual and gender minority groups, those from underserved rural areas and individuals from lower socioeconomic strata, are represented in basic, translational, effectiveness, and services research studies.

Important discoveries and knowledge arising from from these research studies can improve our understanding of disparities in risk and trajectories for mental illnesses as well as responsiveness to preventative and treatment interventions. In addition, since individuals from underserved and underrepresented communities frequently experience reduced access to quality mental health services, it is vital to examine accessibility, engagement, and follow-up in a variety of settings where people receive mental health care.

ODWD encourages researchers to examine underlying causes of mental health disparities as well as to explore ways to test novel approaches to reduce disparities. By studying biological, behavioral and psychological mechanisms and a range of social and environmental factors, researchers, providers, and policymakers will gain a better understanding of the variations in prevalence, course of mental disorders, and access to care across diverse populations.

Moreover, because individual differences such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic status may contribute to disparate responses to mental health interventions and services, research on these differences may provide information fundamental to the equitable development of effective personalized interventions.

Learn more about ODWD’s mental health research programs: