The impact of community-level interventions on improving help seeking and access to support among ethnic minority people living with psychotic disorders in non-secondary care settings: A systematic review

Aim: Research has shown that people from ethnic minority backgrounds living with psychosis are less likely to seek support from healthcare professionals (e.g., GP), but more likely to seek support from non-healthcare professionals (e.g., faith leaders). This systematic review assessed the impact of community-level interventions aimed at improving help seeking and access to support for psychosis in non-secondary care settings among ethnic minority populations.

Methods: The EMBASE, PsychINFO, Medline Ultimate, CINAHL Ultimate and Scopus databases were searched in December 2023. Studies were included if published in English, conducted in high-income countries, reported on psychosis and minority ethnic groups aged 18–65 years, and interventions targeted at people from minority ethnic groups with or at risk of psychosis, caregivers, or the general public. Outcomes of interest were changes in help-seeking behaviours, pathways to care characteristics, and barriers and facilitators of intervention implementation.

Results: Five studies (pooled n, participants = 332) reporting two interventions met the inclusion criteria. All studies were conducted in the United States. Narrative synthesis revealed mixed results about the effectiveness of interventions on help seeking and duration of untreated psychosis. The results show promise for professional help-seeking recommendations post-intervention across the studies. Barriers and facilitators were identified for intervention implementation.

Conclusions: Community-level interventions have some success in promoting help-seeking for psychosis in ethnic minority populations. However, research in this area was limited. Future research could include studies across different countries, ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic status to ensure generalisable results.