Introduction to the Special Issue on Health Disparities and Diversity

The definition of health disparities has expanded from “differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States” in Healthy People 2010, to a more complex and nuanced statement, which recognizes that “Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion” in Healthy People 2020 (US-DHHS, 2010). The Committee’s mission is to a) support APAHC in maintaining an equitable environment for diverse psychologists in Academic Health Centers (AHC); b) ensure that issues of diversity in race, gender, sexual orientation, and ability status remain central to the mission of APAHC; c) foster discussion among AHC psychologists on research, clinical care, and policy related to health disparities in behavioral health and academic medicine; d) promote research on training models and clinical care to address health disparities; e) support skill development and mentorship attainment in areas relevant to diversity (broadly defined) among early career psychologists and trainees; and f) implement targeted training programs for providers, researchers, and administrators. [...]since the 1980s, psychiatric epidemiologic studies have documented that White Americans have higher rates of depression and anxiety than Black Americans (Mezuk, Abdou, Hudson, Kershaw, Rafferty, Lee, & Jackson, 2013). [...]there may be some instances in which nonminority populations experience higher rates of mental illness than minority populations. Report of the secretary’s task force on black and minority health—executive summary; 1985; Washington, DC, Government Printing Office: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention [US-DHHS].