title: Persistence of mental health service use among Latino children: a clinical and community study.
abstract: This study examined predictors of treatment persistence (receiving mental health services at two time points one year apart) among children in Puerto Rico who had previously sought care for mental health concerns. Children and their primary caregivers completed interviews one year apart. Treatment persistence was lower among children recruited from community sampling (n = 137) than those children recruited from public and private clinics (N = 381). Persistence was associated with psychological measures of need and co-morbidity only in the clinical sample, while in both samples persistence was associated with measures of family burden and school functioning. In multivariate analyses, persistence was associated in both the clinical and community samples with a measure of school functioning but not with diagnosis, impairment, or parental concerns about the child's behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services and Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. aortega@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Alexander N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Ligia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chavez
authors.forename: Moira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inkelas
authors.forename: Glorisa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Canino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011647:Puerto Rico