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Mental Health Disparities In Social Work Practice Of Minority Youth Offenders, Beverly Ann Rivera

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractA large number of minority youths placed in the juvenile justice system across the United States have mental health disorders. Most of these youths do not receive mental health services or support within the system, which increases risk factors such as undiagnosed and untreated mental illness and adverse outcomes such as recidivism. This action research sought to uncover whether mental health disparities in social work practice in the juvenile justice system were due to race and ethnicity and asked social workers to recommend strategies to improve mental health availability, access, and provision. Participants in the study were social workers who …