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Published Online: 1 September 2015

Variables Associated With Perceived Unmet Need for Mental Health Care in a Canadian Epidemiologic Catchment Area

Abstract

Objectives:

This study identified variables associated with perceived partially met and unmet needs for information, medication, and counseling, as well as overall perceived unmet needs, related to mental health among 571 people in a Canadian epidemiologic catchment area.

Methods:

Needs were measured with the Perceived Need for Care Questionnaire and a comprehensive set of independent variables based on Andersen’s behavioral model. Four models were constructed for the following dependent variables: perceived unmet needs for information, medication, and counseling (multinomial logistic regression) and overall perceived unmet needs (multiple logistic regression).

Results:

The proportions reporting fully unmet need were as follows: counseling, 30%; information, 18%; and medication, 4%. Variables associated with unmet needs for information, medication, and counseling were quite distinct. Enabling factors (for example, neighborhood perception variables) were strongly associated with perceived unmet need for information. Need factors were more strongly associated with unmet need for medication, predisposing factors with unmet needs for information and medication, and health service use with unmet information and counseling needs. People whose overall needs went unmet tended to be younger, to have an addiction, and to have consulted fewer professionals.

Conclusions:

Mental health services should facilitate access to psychologists or other clinicians to better meet counseling and information needs. They should also take neighborhoods into account when assessing needs and provide more information about mental disorders and the treatments and services offered in disadvantaged areas. Finally, services should be further developed for younger people with addiction, who tend to be stigmatized and avoid using health services.

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Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services

Cover: Landscape, by Louis Comfort Tiffany, ca. 1892. Stained glass. Private Collection. Photo credit: Art Resource, New York City.

Psychiatric Services
Pages: 78 - 85
PubMed: 26325455

History

Received: 18 August 2014
Revision received: 18 December 2014
Revision received: 7 March 2015
Revision received: 29 April 2015
Accepted: 13 May 2015
Published online: 1 September 2015
Published in print: January 01, 2016

Authors

Details

Marie-Josée Fleury, Ph.D.
Dr. Fleury and Dr. Caron are with the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Dr. Grenier, Dr. Bamvita, and Dr. Perreault are with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal.
Guy Grenier, Ph.D.
Dr. Fleury and Dr. Caron are with the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Dr. Grenier, Dr. Bamvita, and Dr. Perreault are with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal.
Jean-Marie Bamvita, M.D.
Dr. Fleury and Dr. Caron are with the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Dr. Grenier, Dr. Bamvita, and Dr. Perreault are with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal.
Michel Perreault, Ph.D.
Dr. Fleury and Dr. Caron are with the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Dr. Grenier, Dr. Bamvita, and Dr. Perreault are with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal.
Jean Caron, Ph.D.
Dr. Fleury and Dr. Caron are with the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Dr. Grenier, Dr. Bamvita, and Dr. Perreault are with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal.

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This study was funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CTP-79839).

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