文章基本信息

标题：Correlates of Past-Year Mental Health Service Use Among Latinos: Results From the National Latino and Asian American Study
本地全文：下载
作者：Margarita Alegría ; Norah Mulvaney-Day ; Meghan Woo 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2007
卷号：97
期号：1
页码：76-83
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2006.087197
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Objectives. We examined correlates and rates of past-year mental health service use in a national sample of Latinos residing in the United States. Methods. We used data from the National Latino and Asian American Study, a national epidemiological household survey of Latinos. Results. Cultural factors such as nativity, language, age at migration, years of residence in the United States, and generational status were associated with whether or not Latinos had used mental health services. However, when the analysis was stratified according to past-year psychiatric diagnoses, these associations held only among those who did not fulfill criteria for any of the psychiatric disorders assessed. Rates of mental health service use among those who did not fulfill diagnostic criteria were higher among Puerto Ricans and US-born Latinos than among non–Puerto Ricans and foreign-born Latinos. Conclusions. Rates of mental health service use among Latinos appear to have increased substantially over the past decade relative to rates reported in the 1990s. Cultural and immigration characteristics should be considered in matching mental health services to Latinos who need preventive services or who are symptomatic but do not fulfill psychiatric disorder criteria. Underuse of mental health services among Latinos residing in the United States is a concern in both research and practice. 1 ^– 6 Studies conducted in the 1990s showed that fewer than 1 in 11 Latinos with a mental disorder sought specialty mental health services and that fewer than 1 in 5 obtained general services for mental health problems. 7 Rates were even lower among Latino immigrants. 4 Compounding the problem for Latinos is the limited availability of bilingual clinicians, 8 possibly resulting in less accurate diagnoses and mismatches between treatment needs and resources. 9 Studies indicate that US residents limited in English-language proficiency are less likely to seek and receive needed mental health services. 10 ^, 11 Therefore, linking mental health service use and satisfaction with services to immigration characteristics and ethnicity is critical in planning service delivery. Some of the estimates of Latinos’ mental health service use come from large national surveys 12 ^– 15 that have not considered the heterogeneity of this population or from regional studies 4 ^, 16 that have focused on a single Latino subgroup. Other national studies assessing mental health service delivery have provided disaggregated rates among different Latino subgroups 17 ^, 18 using symptom measures rather than structured diagnostic batteries to determine need. Although factors such as differences in ethnic group memberships, 16 ^, 17 ^, 19 English language proficiency, 10 and immigration status 4 have been suggested as correlates of Latino mental health service use, they are typically not evaluated in most national studies. Most research has described Latinos in a “general population” context without addressing differences in service delivery within specific subpopulations. Yet, seminal studies of mental health service use among Mexican Americans 4 and Cuban refugees in South Florida 16 show the importance of immigration characteristics on service use. In this study, we used data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), provided by the Center for Multi-cultural Mental Health Research at the Cambridge Health Alliance, to examine patterns and correlates of past-year mental health service use among Latinos residing in the United States, along with their perceptions of whether the care they received was helpful and their level of satisfaction with the care received. To our knowledge, this investigation is one of the few to date to examine ethnic group, immigration status, generational status, and English-language proficiency as correlates of service use and satisfaction with services in a national sample of Latinos.