Behavioral and Psychiatric Healthof the Vulnerable and Underserved (CPE 9 117)
Term: 2023-2024 Academic Year Fall
Description
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides guidance to identify vulnerable populations, stating they are "defined by factors such as race or ethnicity, gender, education or income, disability, geographic location (e.g., rural or urban), or sexual orientation (2023)." While these vulnerable populations have been identified for many years, the continued effects of transient populations, economic realities, and the post-pandemic era health care changes, the need for interprofessional solutions is a call to action. Effects of health disparities in these populations are present from young children through the older adult populations, triggering the need for early intervention.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2022), 1 in 5 Americans experience a mental illness. Depression alone is estimated to cost the American economy $210 billion annually. The National Alliance on Mental Health (2022) reports the cost of treating people with both mental and physi