An assessment of a community's mental health needs

In this study social indicators and survey measures were used to predict 3-years of service utilization by the residents of 26 census tracts served by a community mental health center. Ten social indicators were selected from available census tract statistics, and seven survey measures were taken from an epidemiological survey of the catchment area of the mental health center. These data were analyzed first with univariate analyses of variance and then with stepwise regression to test their independent and combined relationship with utilization rates. The results showed that mental health utilization rates can be predicted with considerable accuracy by social indicators and survey measures. Combining survey measures and social indicators provided the greatest accuracy; implying that both social and psychological forces need to be considered. Social indicators alone were shown to be more powerful predictors than survey measures alone. Survey measures may be particularly valuable in identifying the special problems of members of different neighborhoods, while social indicators provide clues about the location of high-risk neighborhoods.