The topic for my research is the effectiveness of mindfulness intervention therapy on the mental health of ethnic minority adolescents. Research has shown that mindfulness-based intervention treatment can help improve the management of several mental health conditions such as stress and emotion regulation in ethnic minority youths (Fung et al., 2019). The independent variable in this topic is a school-based mindfulness intervention, while the dependent ones include the level of perceived depression and stress among ethnic minority adolescents, particularly African American youth.
African Americans have unique religions and cultural norms, beliefs, values, and traditions that researchers need to understand and consider when conducting research within this population. Major cultural considerations when studying the blacks are lack of trust in the healthcare providers and the system, low literacy levels, language barriers, and the tendency to seek alternative treatment such as home remedies, prayer, and spiritual healing (O’Rourke & McDowell, 2018). Understanding and recognizing these cultural nuances can enable researchers to effectively meet the mental health needs of participants from this particular population.
The trust issues with the healthcare providers and the system, in general, are important when choosing a formal research instrument. Most importantly, researchers working within this population will need to choose a research method that enhances access to respondents because African American subjects may be more difficult to recruit. Also, the researchers will have to select an instrument that matches the literacy levels of the target population. Lastly, considering that the blacks often prefer alternative medicine, some adolescents may be less willing to participate in the study than their peers from other populations. Consequently, researchers must choose a data collection tool that is culturally acceptable to gain more participation in the study.
References
Fung, J., Kim, J. J., Jin, J., Chen, G., Bear, L., & Lau, A. S. (2019). A randomized trial evaluating school-based mindfulness intervention for ethnic minority youth: Exploring mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(1), 1-19. Web.
O’Rourke, M. & McDowell, M. (2018). Providing culturally competent care for African Americans. American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Web.