Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder Disparity Among African-Americans

Worldwide, Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder (SSD) affects a low percentage of individuals, but a severe health disparity exists for African-Americans, especially men. Several factors are contributing to this inequality. These factors occur at the individual, social, and organizational levels. With the other challenges facing African-Americans, SSD disparity is another shackle affecting this population. For health care providers, the challenges are treating a complex disorder in a hard to reach and stigmatized population. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the SSD disparity among African-Americans as identified in the literature and to discuss the role that Advanced Practice Nurses and other mental health providers have in reducing the disparity.