Medical provider attitudes about behavioral health consultants in integrated primary care: a preliminary study

Integrated behavioral health increases service utilization and treatment success, particularly with high-risk populations. This study assessed medical personnel's attitudes and perceptions of behavioral health clinicians (BHCs) in primary care using a brief self-report measure. A 6-item survey was given to medical providers (n = 45) from a health care system that includes integrated behavioral health services. Survey items assessed providers' attitudes and perceptions about BHCs. Attitudes about behavioral health were largely favorable. For all items, 73.3% to 100% of participants endorsed strongly agree or agree. Chi-square analyses revealed that those who interacted more frequently with BHCs were more comfortable discussing behavioral health issues with their patients, χ²(6, n = 45) = 13.43, p < .05, and that physicians believe that BHCs help patients effectively address their behavioral health problems, χ²(2, n = 45) = 6.36, p < .05. Age, gender, and health center in which the providers worked were not significantly related to any survey items. Medical providers surveyed believe that BHCs are valuable members of integrated health care, improving their abilities to provide care and to address their patients' physical and behavioral health problems. Although these preliminary results are promising, the setting surveyed has well-integrated behavioral health care services and thus might not be representative of other settings without such integration. Future studies should address medical providers' opinions of BHCs in a variety of settings with larger samples.