Patterns and predictors of mental health service use and serious mental illness among community-dwelling elderly
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Older adults have historically utilized mental health services at substantially low\nrates. Unfortunately, though professional, policy, and other recent developments\nportend an increase in service use, there has been scant empirical attention devoted to the\ncurrent or recent utilization of mental health treatment by the elderly, and almost nothing\nis known about the correlates of mental health need and service use among older adults.\nAccordingly, the present study examined patterns of serious mental illness (SMI),\nspecific mental health syndromes, and service use among older (65+) and younger (18-\n64) adults throughout the United States, and the extent to which various factors predict\nmental health need and the use and magnitude of mental health treatment. In addition,\nthe study examined factors related to unmet need, as well as age group differences in\nperceived benefit from treatment. The findings reveal that older adults were three times\nless likely than their younger counterparts to receive any outpatient mental health\ntreatment. Only 2.5% of older individuals utilized any outpatient mental health service\nin the past year, versus 7.0% of younger adults. The results indicate that the low rate of\nutilization by older adults may be partly a function of limited subjective mental health need. Prevalence estimates for SMI and all specific mental health syndromes, with the\nexception of agoraphobia, were markedly lower in the older than the younger cohort.\nImportantly, though mental health problems appear to be significantly undertreated in\nolder and younger age groups, the study also reveals that those older and younger adults\nthat make it into services typically benefit considerably from treatment. It is hoped that\nthe knowledge yielded by the current study will promote efforts to enhance mental\nhealth care access and reduce the long neglected mental health needs of the nation’s\nelderly population. Several factors related to mental health need and service use were\nidentified in the study that may assist policy, planning, and outreach efforts aimed at\nincreasing service access.
Author: Bradley E. Karlin
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2295900450