40
journal of public mental health
VOLsISSUE
© Pier Professional Ltd, 2009
Key words
race;
equality;
cultural competence;
training
racial inequalities experienced by immigrants from
Commonwealth countries following the Second
World War. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, race
related training continued to be advocated as the
common solution to improve race relations in public
services. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (McPherson,
1999) gave further impetus to race equality training.
The report proposed that institutional racism was
endemic in the police force and other public services
and recommended training in racism awareness and
cultural diversity as one solution.
In response to recommendations of the
Macpherson report, the Race Relations Amendment Act
2000 (HM Government, 2000) extended The Race
Relations Act 1976 (HM Government, 1976) to cover
the functions of all public bodies, including the NHS.
The Act set out a general duty for all public bodies
to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote
equality of opportunities and good relations between
different ethnic groups.
T
he disparities and inequalities for
black and minority ethnic (BME)
communities in mental health in
the UK have been well documented
(Department of Health, 2003). It has
been acknowledged that the situation has reached
such proportions that it is considered a public health
issue (Healthcare Commission, 2005). This paper will
review training as one of the strategies that have been
employed to address these inequalities and will draw
on a scoping exercise in England (Bennett et al, 2007)
that mapped approaches to race equality training in
mental health services. Some of the key findings of this
study and the implications for achieving race equality
in mental health services will be reported here.
Since the mid-1960s, training for staff in public
services has been proposed as one of the major
ways of improving race relations in the UK. Race
related training has its origins in the United States,
but was introduced into the UK in response to the
ANALYSIS
Joanna Bennett
Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing,
University of the West Indies, Jamaica
Frank Keating
Senior Lecturer, Department of Health
and Social Care, Royal Holloway
University of London, UK
Correspondence to:
Joanna Bennett (PhD, BSc (Hons),
RM, RN)
Senior Lecturer, University of the
West Indies
School of Nursing, Mona Campus
9 Gibraltar Camp Way
Kingston 7
Jamaica WI
Email: joanna.bennett03@uwimona.
edu.jm
Frank Keating (DSW, M.Ed, BSc (Hons)
Social Work)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Health
and Social Care
Royal Holloway University of London
Egham
Surrey TW20 0EX
UK
Email: frank.keating@rhul.ac.uk
It has been acknowledged that the disparities and inequalities for black and minority ethnic (BME)
communities in mental health in the United Kingdom (UK) has reached such proportions that it is
considered a public health issue. This paper reviews training as one of the strategies that have been
employed to address these inequalities and draws on a historical review and a scoping exercise in
England that mapped approaches to race equality training in mental health services.
The historical review showed that the concept of race and racism has been replaced by
culturalism as an explanation for all racial inequalities and is the central framework for race equality
training. While the survey showed that the majority of mental health services were providing
training for their staff, there is much fragmentation and a lack of robust evaluation demonstrating
effectiveness. While education and training have a key role to play in developing knowledge and
skills to address racial inequalities current approaches are fundamentally flawed.
Training to redress racial
disadvantage in mental health
care: race equality or cultural
competence?