{"id":13413,"date":"2024-08-28T11:14:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T15:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-ca\/?p=13413"},"modified":"2024-11-07T10:03:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T15:03:22","slug":"research-spotlight-leveraging-mbc-to-reduce-mental-health-treatment-disparities-for-populations-of-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-ca\/research-spotlight-leveraging-mbc-to-reduce-mental-health-treatment-disparities-for-populations-of-color\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Spotlight: Leveraging MBC to Reduce Mental Health Treatment Disparities for Populations of Colour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our upcoming educational panel<\/a> will feature the Yale Measurement-Based Care Collaborative<\/a> (YMBCC), a group of four dedicated researchers and psychologists who have devoted their careers to advancing the adoption and practice of Measurement-Based Care (MBC). Their work focuses on developing tools and educational content<\/a> that help clinical teams effectively adopt MBC, thereby enhancing client outcomes and the overall quality of care. As MBC adoption continues to accelerate across North America, the YMBCC has expanded its work and research to explore how this evidence-based practice impacts various demographics, with the aim of fostering increasingly equitable care for underserved populations.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Greenspace, driving care equity through MBC is a critical topic we’ve been focused on in collaboration with our partners, including organizations like Encompass Community Services<\/a>, whose primary motivation for implementing MBC was to drive more equitable services. We also work closely with many clinical teams that offer programs to underserved and underrepresented communities, making it essential for us to engage in this conversation and ensure that MBC facilitates equitable care.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of these efforts, we wanted to highlight some important insights from a recent YMBCC publication, \u2018<\/span>Leveraging Measurement-Based Care to Reduce Mental Health Treatment Disparities for Populations of Color<\/span><\/a>.\u2019 This article outlines four ways that MBC may be able to address some of the disparities in mental health treatment for clients of colour, and serves as a good reminder of the impact of the MBC <\/span>process<\/span><\/i> and client\/clinician collaboration in driving more equitable care. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Before we dive into the article and its features, it\u2019s crucial to consider the YMBCC\u2019s disclaimer, which emphasizes the importance of culturally sensitive care and encourages clinicians to recognize their differences with clients and address potential biases:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor any clinical practice, MBC or other, to positively impact disparities, it is essential that clinicians engaging in mental health treatment (1) have foundational competencies in culturally-responsive care; and (2) are open to honestly engaging in self-reflection around assumptions and biases.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

With that in mind, let\u2019s explore these impactful MBC features in more detail:<\/span><\/p>\n

MBC Feature 1: Optimize Treatment Quality via Personalization and Proactive Modifications<\/b><\/h3>\n

Evidence shows that there is a gap in care quality within communities of colour, and this group may not experience the same levels of outcome improvement as white populations. The YMBCC believes that MBC can help close this gap by ensuring that lack of progress or potential treatment non-response is identified early, allowing care plans to be adjusted or tailored accordingly. MBC helps providers ensure treatment is client-centred and customized to each individual, which is critical to addressing the lack of treatment fit that may impact these groups and driving higher outcome improvement. Dr. Elizabeth Connors of the YMBCC shares some of the research demonstrating how MBC can be effectively leveraged to drive more significant symptom change in treatment:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n