Use of mental and health services by American Indian and Alaska Native elders

American Indian and Alaska Native elders are an important at-risk population in need of mental health services, yet little is known about the factors that influence Indian/Native elders to actually seek mental health services. This study uses the Anderson and Newman conceptual framework to identify need as well as enabling and predisposing factors for mental health service use in a national sample of reservation and urban American Indian and Alaska Native elders. Results indicate that self-perceived need is the strongest predictor of mental health service use for elders living on reservations. However, for Indian/Native elders in urban areas, degree of mental impairment is most likely to predict use of mental health services. For both groups of elders, enabling variables, such as total income, level of education and access to medical insurance, were the least important in influencing whether or not an elder elected to use mental health services.