Psychology in primary health care: effects of brief targeted therapy on children's medical care utilization.
Evaluated the impact of psychological treatment for 93 children (ages 1-15) with common behavior, toilet, school, and psychosomatic problems. Children and parents, who were members of a health maintenance organization, had 1-6 visits to a primary care-based psychological consultation service. Individualized treatment was guided by problem-specific behavioral protocols. Parent outcome and behavior checklist ratings indicated improvement or resolution for 74% of children and high satisfaction with the psychological service. Children's use of medical services, especially acute primary care visits, was reduced during the year after treatment; a matched comparison group's use was unchanged. Addressing children's unmet mental health needs reduces medical care utilization. A primary health care model of psychological services provides an integrated system for serving the health and mental health needs of children.
Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061-0436.
J W
JW
Finney
A W
AW
Riley
M F
MF
Cataldo
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008396:Maryland; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome