title: Patterns of Child Mental Health Service Delivery in a Public System: Rural Children and the Role of Rural Residence.
abstract: This study uses existing data from Hawaii's public mental health system for children and youth as an example of a state-level examination of service use patterns and health care disparities. The purpose of this study was to compare differences in mental health service utilization between rural and non-rural children, especially use of residential services. This study used a performance measure approach to conduct multi-level modeling on existing administrative data to examine the impact of community factors on service utilization. Rural children were found to have the most serious levels of mental health problems at intake, more likely to be placed in out-of-home care, more likely to receive only out-of-home care, more likely to in stay out-of-home longer, and less likely to receive follow-up care than their non-rural counterparts. Practice, policy, and research implications are discussed.
authors: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, c.heflinger@vanderbilt.edu.
authors: Craig Anne
authors: CA
authors: Heflinger
authors: Virginia
authors: V
authors: Shaw
authors: Charmaine
authors: C
authors: Higa-McMillan
authors: Laurel
authors: L
authors: Lunn
authors: Ana Maria
authors: AM
authors: Brannan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006254:Hawaii; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012423:Rural Health; D012424:Rural Population; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult