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.
Finney
J W
JW
Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061-0436.
Riley
A W
AW
Cataldo
M F
MF
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