VIDEO: Cultural barriers, mental health can be ‘back breaking’ for IBD patients
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In a Healio exclusive video, Tina Aswani Omprakash, a presenter at the Crohn’s and Colitis Congress, shares her experience with cultural competency as it relates to mental health and surgery for inflammatory bowel disease.
“Surgery isn’t a last resort,” Omprakash, a patient advocate for Crohn’s disease and founder of the blog Own your Crohn’s, said. “It never should be. It should always be considered a treatment option and not left to become an emergency.”
Omprakash said she is still affected by cultural stigmas and decisions made about her care. “It is something I live with every day,” she said. “How much these cultural aspects affected me. Why I talk about this is because I want things to change. I don’t want future generations of patients to go through this. These are hugely intertwined in the psychosocial aspects of our care.”
Omprakash said that cultural aspects — on top of IBD, surgery and mental health — can be very ‘back breaking.’
“There are cultural barriers to care and physicians, dieticians, mental health providers need to understand that different cultures have different barriers that might be preventing patients form pursuing certain therapies.”
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Omprakash A. APPs: Improving IBD care outcomes. Presented at: Crohn’s and Colitis Congress; Jan. 20-22, 2022 (virtual meeting).
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