Assessing Provider Bias in General Practitioners’ Assessment and Referral of Depressive Patients with Different Migration Backgrounds: Methodological Insights on the Use of a Video-Vignette Study

Although the prevalence of common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, is higher among people with a migration background, these groups are generally underrepresented in all forms of institutionalized mental health care. At the root of this striking discrepancy might be unequal referral by health care practitioners. In this article we describe the development of a quasi-experimental video vignette methodology to assess potential forms of unequal diagnosing, treatment and referral patterns, based on clients’ migration background and asylum status. The presented methodology also allows to explore whether potential differences are related to provider bias, i.e. underlying attitudes and expectations held by general practitioners. Potential assets and drawbacks of this methodology are discussed in detail.