Public mental health care utilization by older adults

The present study examined the extent to which older adults began public mental health treatment throughout Texas in 1999, the types of services they used, and how they compared on demographic and clinical variables to younger consumers. Notwithstanding recent policy and related developments, older adults were found to use public mental health services at substantially low rates, as in past decades. Significantly, older consumers tended to be relatively healthy and independent. Among younger and, even more so, older consumers, there were relatively high proportions of rural residents and minorities, groups previously found to be unlikely to utilize private mental health services. Overall, the findings urge that greater attention be devoted to public mental health outreach and service delivery with the elderly, and raise the question of what role the public mental health system should have in nursing homes and other long-term care settings.