Mental health service use in the community and schools: results from the four-community MECA Study. Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the use of mental health and substance abuse services by children and adolescents as reported from the four community sites included in the NIMH Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study.


METHODS
As part of the MECA survey, questions were developed to identify children and adolescents utilizing mental health and substance abuse services. Youths aged 9 through 17 years and a parent/ caretaker were interviewed. Because the investigators had concerns about the capacities of the younger children in the study to describe their use of mental health services, more extensive questions were asked of parents than of youths.


RESULTS
The procedures developed by the MECA project identified patterns of service use that varied in the four communities surveyed. Agreement between reports of parents and youths regarding the use of mental health and substance abuse services showed substantial inconsistencies, similar to reports of psychiatric disorders. At three of the four sites, the majority of children meeting criteria for a psychiatric disorder and scoring 60 or less on the Children's Global Assessment Scale reported some mental health-related service in the previous year, although at two of the sites fewer than 25% of these youths were seen in the mental health specialty sector.


CONCLUSIONS
Community surveys show great promise for monitoring the need for mental health and substance abuse services and for identifying patterns of use.
Leaf
P J
PJ
Department of Mental Hygiene, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Alegria
M
M
Cohen
P
P
Goodman
S H
SH
Horwitz
S M
SM
Hoven
C W
CW
Narrow
W E
WE
Vaden-Kiernan
M
M
Regier
D A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology