Research Brief Series: Translating Research Into Practice

BH WELL’s Research Brief series showcases our teams’ most up-to-date research and evidence-based practice in a concise, digestible format. Each research summary serves to bridge the gap between clinical research and public knowledge by enhancing communication, supporting advocacy efforts, and facilitating translation amongst all mental healthcare workers. Providing key insights from evidence-based research will help inform public understanding of health issues, empower individuals to make informed decisions, and to promote overall healthier behaviors/outcomes.

Volume 1: 2024

Volume 2: 2025

Current Issue

Factors Influencing Arabs’ Attitudes toward Mental Health Care and their Intentions to Seek Mental Health Services: A Systematic Review

Volume 2, Issue 5

June 2025

Closing the Gap: Arabs living in the United States may face stressors and difficulties that may affect their mental health. However, research has shown that they are less likely to seek professional mental health treatment. One way to bridge the gap is to understand and identify the barriers to seeking help.

Promoting Positive Patient Outcomes: The purpose of this systematic review was to pinpoint factors that impact Arab attitudes toward mental health care and their willingness to seek it. The results of the systematic review were lifted onto the socio-ecological model to show the layered factors associated with attitudes towards mental health care and intentions to seek mental health care. Psychiatric-mental health nurses may use these factors to develop strategies to increase and promote Arab utilization of mental health services. An increase in mental health care utilization may help alleviate the mental health challenges faced by Arab communities.

Optimizing Resources: Pinpointing factors that impact Arab attitudes toward mental health care can help inform new approaches to engage Arab communities in mental health care. Addressing these factors could increase the likelihood that Arabs will seek mental health care which may improve health outcomes.