Mental Health Service Use in a Nationally Representative Canadian Survey
Open Access
- 1 October 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 50 (12), 753-761
- https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370505001204
Abstract
Previous Canadian surveys have noted a wide range of prevalence rates for mental health service use and found no consistent relation between type of contact with mental health professionals and severity of illness. This study is the first investigation to examine the prevalence and correlates of mental health service use in a nationally representative Canadian survey. The Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 1.1 was conducted between 2000 and 2001 (n = 125 493; respondent age 12 years and over; response rate; 84.7%). Respondents were asked whether they had contacted a professional because of emotional symptoms in the past year and about their experience of barriers to treatment. DSM-IV major depression and alcohol dependence diagnoses were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form. The relation between a range of measures of clinical severity and the type of professional contacted for emotional symptoms was examined. The prevalence of 12-month help seeking for emotional symptoms was 8.3% (99%CI, 8.10 to 8.55); an additional 0.6% (99%CI, 0.49 to 0.62) of the sample perceived a need for treatment without seeking care. Respondents endorsing contact with multiple professionals or with psychiatrists only had higher levels of severity than those who had contact with family doctors only or nonphysician professionals only. Although untreated depression remains a significant problem in Canada, more severe illness was more likely to be associated with seeing a psychiatrist (or multiple professionals), indicating a relation between greater severity of mental illness and receiving more specialized care.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rural?urban differences in the prevalence of major depression and associated impairmentSocial psychiatry. Sozialpsychiatrie. Psychiatrie sociale, 2004
- Use of Mental Health Services in ChilePsychiatric Services, 2004
- Mental Health Services Received by Depressed Persons Who Visited General Practitioners and Family DoctorsPsychiatric Services, 2003
- Predictors of help seeking for emotional distress among Chinese Americans: Family matters.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2002
- Prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service utilisationThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 2001
- The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview short‐form (CIDI‐SF)International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 1998
- The use of outpatient mental health services in the United States and Ontario: the impact of mental morbidity and perceived need for care.American Journal of Public Health, 1997
- Brief Physician Advice for Problem Alcohol DrinkersJAMA, 1997
- Differences in the Use of Psychiatric Outpatient Services between the United States and OntarioThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1997
- Alcohol Treatment and Health Care System ReformArchives of General Psychiatry, 1996