Abstract
Purpose: The social determinants of mental health (SDoMH) continue to exert their fierce presence around the globe. The factors known to influence health outcomes equally impact mental health. A global mental health chasm has widened courtesy of COVID-19's intersection with every psychosocial aspect of functioning, inclusive of how people are born, live, learn, work, socialize, worship, and die. Racial, ethnic, and cultural inequities across the diversity, equity, and inclusion space have led to rising morbidity and mortality across every population. Part 2 of this article series is dedicated to assessment and intervention tools for the workforce. A key fifth or Quintile Aim of wholistic health equity is also presented to advance the industry's seminal quality compass, the Triple Aim, for the future.
Learning Outcomes: After reading this article, learners will be able to:
* Explore recent population-based data;
* Apply dedicated assessment tools toward behavioral health management;
* Identify short-term counseling interventions; and
* Examine the fifth or Quintile Aim of wholistic health equity.
Finding/Conclusion: Access to quality wholistic health care encompasses pathophysiology, psychopathology, and psychosocial circumstances and remains a challenge across populations. Mental health, along with health disparities, has been fueled by systematic racism that has facilitated inadequate funding, poor reimbursement, decreased treatment options, and pervasive stigma across the cultural divide (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, familial status, disability, socioeconomic status). The SDoMH mandate a fresh lens by health and behavioral health professionals, and particularly case management, to ensure a more proactive and comprehensive approach to care. To achieve the successful outcomes mandated by this approach, the industry's quality compass, the Triple/Quadruple Aim, must be expanded to include a Quintile Aim of wholistic health equity.
Implications for Case Management Practice: Case management's unique transdisciplinary composition has the workforce well positioned to effect grand change in population health perspectives. Wider attention to clinical and fiscal outcomes for health and mental health inequities mandates innovative approaches to patient care, which encompasses a wholistic health triad of pathophysiology, psychopathology, and psychosocial circumstances.