title: Mental health care services for children with special health care needs and their family members: prevalence and correlates of unmet needs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence and correlates of unmet needs for mental health care services for children with special health care needs and their families.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs to estimate the prevalence of unmet mental health care needs among children with special health care needs (1-17 years old) and their families. Using logistic-regression models, we also assess the independent impact of child and family factors on unmet needs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Substantial numbers of children with special health care needs and members of their families have unmet needs for mental health care services. Children with special health care needs who were poor, uninsured, and were without a usual source of care were statistically significantly more likely to report that their mental health care needs were unmet. More severely affected children and those with emotional, developmental, or behavioral conditions were also statistically significantly more likely to report that their mental health care needs went unmet. Families of severely affected children or of children with emotional, developmental, or behavioral conditions were also statistically significantly more likely to report that their mental health care needs went unmet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that children with special health care needs and their families are at risk for not receiving needed mental health care services. Furthermore, we find that children in families of lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately reporting higher rates of unmet needs. These data suggest that broader policies to identify and connect families with needed services are warranted but that child- and family-centered approaches alone will not meet the needs of these children and their families. Other interventions such as anti-poverty and insurance expansion efforts may be needed as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mganz@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ganz
authors.forename: Shalini A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Tendulkar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States