Perceptions of racism in a children's psychiatric inpatient unit: A qualitative study of entrenching and uprooting factors
Authors: Asuzu Kammarauche , Ijeli Chinye , Cardona Laurie , Calhoun Amanda , Reiss David , Benoit Laelia , Martin Andrés 
Published: November 2022

Accessible Summary

What is known on the subject?

The impacts of racism on health are well documented and are greater for mental than for general health.

Mental health professionals are well positioned to help dismantle racism and structural barriers compromising optimal patient care.

What the paper adds to existing knowledge

We describe a systematic and orderly way to identify factors that contribute to entrenching racism as the status quo or that help to uproot it.

By incorporating a racial equity lens, we can better understand daily racism and inform the optimal antiracist actions most relevant to an inpatient psychiatric setting.

What are the implications for practice?

Our two‐domain/six‐theme model may serve as a rubric for individuals to engage in structured self‐reflection, for organizations in auditing or programmatic evaluation, or as scaffolding for difficult but frequently elided conversations.

The unique strengths of a mental health environment can be harnessed toward the elimination of racism and racist practices in clinical care and in the workplace

Introduction

It is well documented that racism plays a role in health care access and outcomes. However, discussions about racism in the inpatient psychiatric workplace are generally avoided. To address this gap, we incorporated a racial equity perspective into a qualitative study to better understand daily racism, its impact on patients and staff, and to inform optimal antiracist actions most relevant to inpatient psychiatric settings.

Aim/Question

We sought to identify factors that may contribute to or deter from racism to inform interventions to sustain a psychologically supportive environment for patients and staff.

Methods

We conducted semistructured interviews using a purposive sample of 22 individuals in an acute child psychiatric inpatient service. We analysed transcripts using thematic analysis guided by a constructivist grounded theory conceptual framework.

Results

We identified two countervailing processes: (1) Entrenching—factors that sustain or increase racism: Predisposing, Precipitating, and Perpetuating and (2) Uprooting—factors that rectify or reduce racism: Preventing, Punctuating, and Prohibiting. We organized each of the elements into a ‘6P’ model along a temporal sequence around sentinel racist events. For each of the six components we describe: Contributing Factors, Emotional Reactions, and Behavioural Responses as reported by participants.

Implications for Practice

Identifying factors that entrench or uproot racism can inform specific steps to improve the care of all children and families on an inpatient child psychiatry unit. The two‐domain/six‐theme model we developed can serve as a rubric for individuals or milieu‐based inpatient settings serving patients of any age to engage in structured self‐reflection, auditing, program evaluation, or as scaffolding for difficult but frequently elided conversations.