ABSTRACT
Although there has been considerable research into the overrepresentation of people from some black and minority ethnic (BME) communities among patients in psychiatric institutes and the inequalities they suffer in mental health services (see Chapter 3), the special position of women from these communities vis-aÁ-vis these issues has received very little attention. This chapter addresses the experiences of women from BME communities, focusing on women from African, African-Caribbean and Asian communities, covering policy context issues concerning abuse, women as parents, and women refugees and asylum seekers (some of these issues are also addressed in Chapter 9). It reviews research ®ndings on issues for women in general and outlines available research ®ndings relating to BME women; and it examines of®cial documents issued in the UK on mental health in relation to care for women, namely Women's Mental Health: Into the Mainstream (Department of Health, 2002c), referred to as Into the Mainstream, and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England (Department of Health, 2002b) and documents that are of particular relevance for BME women such as Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care: An Action Plan for Reform Inside and Outside Services (Department of Health, 2005b). Finally, the chapter describes some projects in the voluntary sector in London which aim to cater speci®cally for BME women with mental health problems, although admittedly London may not be representative of the rest of the UK. The chapter concludes by drawing attention to the likelihood of a signi®cant level of unmet need among BME women within mainstream mental health services, and makes some general statements about the reasons for this.
