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Provision of Non-English Language Services in U.S. Mental Health Facilities
Hieronimus Loho1, Robert A Rosenheck1
1Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut (all authors); New England Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, West Haven, Connecticut (Rosenheck).
Objective:
This study aimed to examine the proportion of U.S. mental health facilities that provide non-English language services.
Methods:
Using data from the 2018 National Mental Health Services Survey, the authors examined differences between mental health facilities that provided non-English language services and those that did not across 23 organizational characteristics. Further analyses compared facilities by their method of language service provision.
Results:
Of 7,503 facilities, 5,186 (69.1%) provided non-English language services. These facilities were more likely than others to have high patient volume, be publicly owned, and be located in the 10 states with the highest percentage of residents with limited English proficiency. Among facilities with language services, 592 (11.4%) relied on multilingual staff, 2,532 (48.8%) relied on external on-call interpreters, and 2,062 (39.8%) relied on both.
Conclusions:
Most mental health facilities provide non-English language services, and those that do tend to be large public organizations located in areas of greatest need.
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