NURS FPX 6026 Assessment 1 Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations

Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations

Student name

NURSE-FPX 6026

Capella University

Professor Name

Submission Date

Introduction

Position papers can be a good way to convey an organization’s or an individual’s perspective on a subject of an inspiring health issue based on research and evidence. They are used in the nursing field and in health policy to set acceptable limits and to encourage acceptable practices in the interests of the vulnerable. This paper aims to review the state of the art of papers, specifically papers on depression of black/African American adults in a community primary healthcare practice.

Black Americans are also less likely to report depression, and, when they do, evidence suggests that they are likely to be much sicker when it comes to depression treatment than non-BLACK Americans (Yelton et al., 2022). The aim of this analysis is to briefly present the statements of both sides of the question in these position papers and to provide a guide to the interprofessional response team’s response.

Position Regarding Health Outcomes

Depression-related health disparities are a public health problem that needs to be addressed now and in the future. In 2024, statistics showed 36% fewer aid-seeking African American/Black adults with mental health issues compared to the rest of the adult population of the U.S. (U.S. DHHS, OMH, 2025). Such disparities signify neither equality nor parity in the demand for assistance, and are indicative of inequities within the Health Care System. Under these conditions, the integration of evidence-based practices targeting Primary Care Providers is necessary to improve outcomes for African American/Black adults.

Social determinants of health and structural racism have an important role in the mental health of blacks, including depression. Between April 2020 and January 2022, non-Hispanic Black people were more likely to have depressed symptoms, as rates increased from 25.6% to 35.2% in that time period (Bolt, 2023). Throughout the years, Black people, especially, have been discriminated against and mistreated in the health care system, causing many of the population to be resistant to accessing health care (Yelton et al., 2022). The key to closing these gaps and thereby reducing the risk of worse depression outcomes for black Americans is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that increase their likelihood of developing depression.

Assumptions Underlying the Plan

There are several different types of interprofessional interventions, each making assumptions about the population(s) served and/or the healthcare system. Assuming that the systematic underdiagnosis of depression among black adults reflects provider bias and institutional racism, the obvious questions are: “Who are the providers? and “What should they be doing? Community primary care models of culturally competent care are also known to be feasible and acceptable (Meredith et al., 2021). Considering this, multifactorial interventions – the ones that address several sources of the inequities – are believed to be best suited to address mental health inequities. The basic assumptions underlying this team are based on the available evidence at the time of construction and must be modified as new evidence is discovered.

Collaborative Role of the Interdisciplinary Team

Interprofessional collaboration ought to be integrated into depression care in PHC with black adults in order to close this depression care gap. Models that encourage interprofessional teams to share care, including in the planning and initiation of treatment, reimbursement processes, and referral problems, are shown to more effectively address this disconnect than models of single-component interventions. Although the nursing role and its boundaries are defined within the framework of a health care team, it works in unison with the roles of primary care physicians, social workers, psychiatrists, and community health workers. Each role contributes to the delivery of integrated, patient-centered care (Campagna and Riley, 2025).

Primary care nurses are a key component in the primary care delivery system for identification, education, and coordination of depression care services. Explanatory models, sociocultural barriers, and options for treatment have been helpful components of quality improvement programs for patients and have been found to be effective in improving depression outcomes for African Americans (Mariman et al., 2023). Community health workers and social workers can play a role in creating a strong connection between services within the clinic and services in the community.

Challenges in Team Collaboration

Although working collaboratively as a team is essential, there are significant challenges in implementation. A barrier identified in previous studies is that there are no uniform cultural competency training for health care workers when it comes to black patients or other ethnic minority patients (Butler Hospital DEI Committee, 2023). Interprofessional therapy faces other barriers: team members who are not getting along due to confusion around which members do what, poor communication between team members, and different team members’ clinical views.

Providing interprofessional health care delivery is often accompanied by additional barriers for people of color, such as a lack of access to information, a lower likelihood of finding a provider with similar experiences and backgrounds, and stigma/embarrassment with accessing health care from certain providers (Panchal et al., 2024). To successfully surmount these obstacles, teams will have to continuously educate and train their respective participants; create clear communication methods and lines of communication; and implement and employ culturally-sensitive communication about service delivery.

Evaluation of Evidence and Positions Supporting the Team’s Approach

The team’s approach is backed up by many large studies, as well as organizational position statements. Race differences in access and outcomes exist in the area of health and mental health, as seen by the data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. There are racial inequities in suicide and drug overdose mortalities between people of colour and White people, likely due to undiagnosed mental health conditions among people of colour.

The need is to have systematic screening, early detection, and intervention by primary care (Panchal et al., 2024). Community integrated with mental health (IMH) for primary care services has proven to be beneficial in increasing access to and engagement in services and improving clinical outcomes for people accessing services (NAACP, 2025).

This demographic is highly likely to respond to community engagement practices and culturally sensitive interventions/strategies. An example of a community-based, culturally sensitive intervention is the virtual storytelling intervention (VSI). The VSI has been shown to decrease public stigma and increase positive attitudes toward treatment seeking among numerous demographic groups. In addition, collaborative care has been shown to be a feasible model for enhancing engagement in care and clinical outcomes of low-income racial/ethnic minority individuals in primary care (Blackmore et al., 2022). There is strong evidence base for this group’s treatment intervention, which included interprofessional and cross-cultural treatment and care activities.

Knowledge Gaps and Areas of Uncertainty

There has already been some research to show there are some gaps in knowledge, which will hinder the generation of better quality evidence-based guidance. Culturally relevant collaborative care research recognizes that there will need to be further research to gain deeper insight into how these interventions can be best applied within a community setting and across various cultures. Specifically, research on culturally adapted care has failed to yield a response as to which types of culturally adapted care are most effective for all subgroups of Black Americans (Mariman et al., 2023).

In addition to inter-group variations among children, including those due to education, gender, immigration, etc., there is a need for culturally relevant interventions, working with the sub-groups of a race/ethnicity rather than just the person’s ethnicity/race. New studies are needed to fill these literature gaps to develop more research-informed and accurate interventions.

Contrary Evidence and Position

There are a number of models that can work with this population, and experts differ on which are most likely to be effective (replicable). Others think that the effects would be more pronounced if the community were to also undergo systemic changes (e.g., provide more health insurance coverage and diversify health care providers) and targeted clinical interventions. 2021 saw 12.7% of working-age Black Americans without health insurance in comparison to 7.5% of white Americans.

Therefore, there are many challenges for many to obtain care due to not being able to afford it or the lack of access to an office. (Bolt, 2023). In fact, those who oppose personalized cultural adaptations consider that widespread policy adaptation has a greater impact on the population as a whole.

In addition to these, stigma of mental well-being is a major problem in black communities and cannot be addressed by a targeted clinic solution. Mental Illness Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, or knowledge about Mental Illnesses and provides a potential explanation for the inequities in health outcomes, as well as a potential source of problems people experience in utilizing mental health services (Romdhane et al., 2022).

While there are many stigma reduction interventions that have been proven to be effective in one community, it is important to identify stigma reduction interventions that are effective specifically for African Americans. Some of these perspectives are so in opposition to each other that they create an impression that clinical-level changes are the only changes needed to generate change, and so, no community/policy changes are necessary.

Impartial Response to Conflicting Data and Perspectives

The group’s stance is that there are valid issues to be addressed with regard to differing views about the nature of mental health services and that these should be solved in a more positive way. Instead of rejecting the structural argument, they will incorporate aspects of both systemic and clinical views in designing a work plan for the team, as both need to be changed at the same time.

Outreach and targeted educational initiatives for specific populations, ongoing efforts toward diversifying mental health providers, and increasing the cultural competence of mental health providers are all important strategies to mitigate mental health care inequities (Blackmore et al., 2022). The team will have these overall strategies within this framework that they will be able to draw upon to give them a more rounded and responsive strategy on all aspects of the issue.

Conclusion

Depression is a big and correctable inequity among adults, and there is an alarming number of black/African American adults who suffer from depression. There are many studies that have concluded that the factors of structural racism, cultural stigma for mental health, and systematic barriers to health care are why there is less likelihood for Black/African American adults to get a diagnosis and sufficient treatment for depression.

To support these individuals in particular in their community-based primary care, the use of interprofessional, culturally competent approaches to all types of collaborative care models will be one of the best options. The purpose of our team is to create a realistic and comprehensive policy option – and to take a hybrid approach and consider a variety of evidence and views on how to develop a realistic and comprehensive, fair policy proposal.

For the next (2nd) Assessment of class NURS-FPX6026 visit: NURS FPX 6026 Assessment 2