Ethnic populations in public mental health: services choice and level of use.
BACKGROUND
Barriers to access and use of mental health care by Asians, Blacks, and Hispanic Americans have been a source of concern for many years. Limitations in our knowledge base persist regarding patterns of use in public sector programs of certain services. Using a sample of almost 27,000 persons, this study examined access and level of use by ethnic minority groups of emergency services, inpatient care, individual outpatient visit, and case management.


METHODS
Data from the management information systems of San Francisco and Santa Clara counties were analyzed for fiscal year 1987/1988. Multivariate models were evaluated at two stages, reflecting whether or not a service had been used, and if used, the level of use.


RESULTS
Asians and Hispanics used less emergency and inpatient but more outpatient care than did Whites; Blacks used more emergency and less outpatient care.


CONCLUSIONS
Ethnicity continues to play a role in understanding the utilization of mental health services. Regarding emergency and inpatient care, Asian and Hispanic patterns of use appear relatively favorable, whereas the patterns of Blacks continue to be problematic.
Hu
T W
TW
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Snowden
L R
LR
Jerrell
J M
JM
Nguyen
T D
TD
D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002140:California; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011635:Public Health Administration; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012495:San Francisco; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data