Impact of Anti-Bias Education on Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Attitudes, Beliefs, and Bias Toward Patients

Abstract

In the United States, mental health disparities burden Black communities. Despite the end of slavery, systemic structures remain prevalent adversely impacting care. There exist vast disparities in Black patients’ psychiatric diagnoses and treatment options when compared to White patients with identical symptomatology. An anti-bias educational presentation was developed with the primary aim of exploring its impact on Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners’ (PMHNPs) attitudes and beliefs towards Blacks. The secondary aim sought to increase PMHNPs’ motivation to self-reflect on potential biases they held. The tertiary aim analyzed the presentation’s impact on practice behaviors. The study included a pre-recorded, 30-minute interactive lecture accessed through Qualtrics XM and utilized a pre- and post-test with follow-up design. A total of thirty-nine PMHNPs (N = 39) completed the pre- and post-test; of those, twenty (N = 20) completed the follow-up survey related to practice changes. The educational presentation discussed the history of racism towards Blacks in psychiatry, current disparities, and possible solutions to address bias. The Racial Attitudes Questionnaire (RAC) was a 20-item questionnaire used to measure pro-Black and anti-Black attitudes. The results revealed a statistically significant increase (p =