What works to support better access to mental health services (from primary care to inpatients) for minority groups to reduce inequalities? A rapid evidence summary

It is estimated that one in four people will experience poor mental health throughout their lifetimes. However, ethnic minority groups, refugees and asylum seekers experience more barriers accessing mental health services and have poorer mental health outcomes than those from non-ethnic minority groups. Evidence suggests that interventions that improve access and engagement with mental health services may help reduce disparities affecting ethnic minority groups, refugees and asylum seekers. Thus, the aim of this rapid evidence summary was to explore the literature on what works to support better access to mental health services for ethnic minority groups, refugees and asylum seekers to reduce inequalities. The review included interventions that were developed or assessed to improve equity in access, engagement, utilisation, or provision of mental health services. Research Implications and Evidence Gaps There is limited review evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions to improve access to mental healthcare across ethnic minority groups. Review evidence regarding interventions to support refugees and asylum seekers access to primary healthcare or specialised clinics (for example pregnancy and postpartum) is available, but the findings related to mental health care cannot be extracted. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation, the Bangor Institute for Medical and Health Research, and the Swansea Centre for Health Economics were funded for this work by the Health and Care Research Wales Evidence Centre, itself funded by Health and Care Research Wales on behalf of Welsh Government. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors * BAME : Black, Asian and minority ethnic NHS : National Health Service OECD : Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ONS : Office for National Statistics PTSD : Post-traumatic stress disorder RCT : Randomised Control Trial VCSE : Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise