Selected Bibliography of Health-Related Mistrust among Minority Populations

Abstract

The following bibliography was compiled from searches of AIDSline, BioethicsLine, Medline, PsycLfT, and Sociofile databases. It is not exhaustive of every reference of mistrust in the health sciences literature, but remains fairly comprehensive in its scope. References were compiled by searching for: (1) articles that mentioned “distrust or mistrust,” (2) articles on “physician-patient relations” and “attitude of health personnel,” and (3) cross referencing material from the first two searches with each minority category. The term “minority” in the bibliography is used broadly to encompass ethnicity, race, sex, and sexual orientation. Each ethnic, racial, sex, or sexual orientation category is further broken down into sub-categories of related topics. For instance, a subcategory of “provider attitudes” toward specific groups is included throughout the bibliography because attitudes and actions of health care providers can help shape and fuel community mistrust. The authors recognize that the chosen minority categories do not aptly reflect the rich diversity of persons that reside in each community, and that issues of mistrust may differ depending upon culture, economic status, and ethnicity within as well as across racial, ethnic, sex, and sexual categories.