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Help seeking for mental health problems among Mexican Americans
W A Vega1, B Kolody, S Aguilar-Gaxiola
1Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Piscataway, NJ, USA. vegawa@umdnj.edu
Journal of Immigrant Health
|October 18, 2005
Summary
Mexican Americans, both immigrant and U.S. born, often use general medical services for mental health issues. Knowing where to find care and having private insurance boosts specialty mental health service use.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Sociology of Health
Background:
- Mexican Americans experience significant mental health needs.
- Disparities exist in accessing mental health care among immigrant and U.S. born populations.
- Understanding care utilization patterns is crucial for improving mental health service delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare mental health care sector and provider utilization between immigrant and U.S. born Mexican Americans.
- To identify factors associated with the use of specialty mental health and general medical care.
- To inform strategies for enhancing mental health service access for this demographic.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from the Mexican American Prevalence and Services Study (MAPSS) household survey.
- Inclusion of 3,000 respondents from Fresno County, California.
- Logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with care utilization.
Main Results:
- Both immigrant and U.S. born Mexican Americans disproportionately used the general medical sector for mental health problems.
- U.S. born individuals were more likely to use family physicians and counselors than immigrants.
- Awareness of provider locations (O.R.=4.68) and private insurance (O.R.=3.76) significantly increased specialty mental health care use.
Conclusions:
- Public insurance eligibility is necessary but not sufficient to increase mental health specialty care use among immigrants.
- Effective referrals from other sectors and targeted education are needed to improve access.
- Severe mental health impairment strongly predicts utilization of both general medical and specialty mental health services.
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