Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Das, Abhery
• Singh, Parvati
• Bruckner, Tim

Titel

Continuity of Mental Health Care at Community Health Centers and Reduced Emergency Department Visits for Suicidal Ideation/Self-Harm

Ist Teil von

• Community mental health journal, 2021-08, Vol.57 (6), p.1142-1150

Ort / Verlag

New York: Springer US

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We examined whether county-level increases in continuity of mental health care (i.e., mental health visits per mental health patient) at Community Health Centers (CHCs) correspond with a decline in Emergency Department (ED) visits for suicidal ideation and self-harm (1) overall, and (2) among specific race/ethnicities across 211 counties from 10 US states, from 2006 to 2015 (sample size = 1412 county-years). We used fixed effects linear regression analyses with county-level socioeconomic covariates and year indicators. In the full sample, continuity of mental health care at CHCs varies inversely with ED visits for suicidal ideation/self-harm (coefficient: −0.04, p < 0.1). Race-specific analyses show that a one unit increase in continuity of mental health care at CHCs corresponds with a 5% decline in ED visits for suicidal ideation/self-harm among whites (p < 0.05). Expansion of mental health care services at CHCs may serve as a key point of prevention for suicidal behavior.