Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations - (Hardcover)

About the Book

By focusing on effective health communication strategies and identifying critical barriers to mental health literacy and access, this book offers meaningful progress.

Book Synopsis

By focusing on effective communication strategies and leveraging cutting-edge research, Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populationsmakes meaningful progress toward improving mental health outcomes for everyone, with a particular emphasis on underserved populations.

Health communication research offers a critical lens for examining mental health, especially in relation to marginalized populations. Contributors to this volume identify and critically analyze key individual and societal barriers many often face when seeking mental health information and care-including stigma, lack of resources, and cultural differences, among others-and provide informed recommendations for future research as well as for the design of inclusive and effective mental health communication campaigns.

Review Quotes

Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations arrives just in time to herald (a) a new and both exciting and uncertain era of the integration of revolutionary technology and interfaces into health communication (b) a massive reset of the health professions challenged to serve populations often ignored in the past. The contributors are experts who explain in clear and accessible language and terms yet with deep scholarly insight what a set of populations who have missed in media and communications on health issues in the past could use now in the future. This is a book that should be consulted by journalists, scholars, policymakers, and all health professionals.
David D. Perlmutter, Professor of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University, USA

I strongly endorse this important new edited book, Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations (edited by Do Kyun David Kim & Jin-Ae Kang) as an excellent contribution to the evolving literature on health communication, that has only recently begun focusing seriously on examining the role of communication in mental health issues. The book clearly describes the serious mental health challenges faced by members of marginalized populations who often confront serious stigma, prejudice, and social stress. Members of these at-risk groups include immigrants/refugees, those who identify as LGBTQ+, many military personnel and veterans, ethnic and racial minorities, women, homeless (unhoused) people, people living in poverty, the aged, religious minorities, those who disabled/disfigured, people coping with addiction, international students, and many others who are not well-accepted in society. The strong argument made in the book is that social stigma and lack of support can often lead to tremendous stress and alienation for members of these marginalized populations, making members of these groups susceptible to a variety of mental health challenges, such as depression, stress-related disorders, self-harm, anti-social behavior, and unduly high levels of suicidal ideation. Each of the chapters in the book also describes communication intervention strategies that can be used to both identify mental health challenges facing members of these diverse underserved populations and provide therapeutic support to promote coping, adjustment, and long-term wellbeing. I strongly recommend this book for those who want to increase their understanding about the communication dynamics that lead to unique mental health challenges for at-risk populations, as well as for those who are seeking communication strategies for building resilience and rehabilitation for people suffering from mental health problems in modern life.
Gary L. Kreps, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Communication, George Mason University, USA

This well-written edited volume raises aspects of mental health that may particularly affect unique population groups and proposes health communication strategies to benefit the members of these groups. Many of the chapters are personal-told from the perspective of individuals whose mental health may be strengthened through effective health communication.
James W. Dearing, Brandt Endowed Professor of Communication, Michigan State University, USA

About the Author

Do Kyun David Kim is Richard D'Aquin/BORSF Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA.

Jin-Ae Kang is Professor of Strategic Communication in the School of Communication at East Carolina University, USA.