The challenge of understanding: A grounded theory analysis of how general practitioners recognise psychological problems in their ethnic minority patients

Aims: To investigate General Practitioners' views about how
they recognised and managed psychological problems in their ethnic
minority patients. To explore how this compared to their interactions
with White British patients, and how their own ethnicity contributed to
the process. To consider whether such factors might partly account for
the disadvantaged position of ethnic minority patients in relation to
mental health services.
Method: Ten GPs in an ethnically diverse borough of London
participated in semi-structured interviews to explore their views. The
results were analysed using grounded theory methodology.
Results: The challenge of understanding was the main concept
spoken about by GPs in the present study. Understanding was both
the goal (a complex model of the patient, their problem and the
context, as perceived by the GP) and the process by which the GP
attempted to achieve this. The grounded theory model developed
described nine factors which influenced the challenge of
understanding, and incorporated both barriers to understanding, and
strategies used by GPs to overcome these.

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