"Just be straight with me:" an exploration of Black patient experiences in initial mental health encounters

It is advantageous for a clinician to understand how patients feel about their initial encounters, but it can be difficult to discern what is and what is not working. This qualitative, exploratory study is guided by the question, "What happens during an initial mental health encounter between a Black patient and a non-Black provider that leads the patient to describe it as a good or poor experience?" The findings are based on face-to-face, postintake interviews with 14 Black patients seen by 11 non-Black providers as part of the Patient-Provider Encounter Study. The objective is to explore the initial interpersonal interactions between Black patients and their non-Black mental health providers and to better understand how patients come to describe the encounter as good (favorable) or poor (unfavorable). A framework inclusive of 5 specific elements is introduced that maps the patient's conceptualization process about how judgments are made about the encounter. Owing to the naturalistic and exploratory nature of the study, a research hypothesis was not established. Instead, we observed how patients scanned the interaction with the provider, made assessments about their provider, and determined whether their experience was positive or negative. The implications of these findings will help to improve the interactions in mental health settings between minority patients and their providers.