Abstract
In an effort to bridge the gap between service need and service utilization, an urban based, university affiliated children's psychiatric outpatient clinic has implemented a program which provides mental health services in inner city schools. When compared with the central clinic populations (N = 304), the school sample (N = 44) was markedly socioeconomically disadvantaged, minority, and as psychiatrically impaired as the central clinic population. School based mental health services have the potential for bridging the gap between need and utilization by reaching disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access to these services. Implications for such services are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Achenbach, T.M. & Edelbrock, C. (1981). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Aday, L.A. & Anderson, R. (1975). Access to Medical Care. Ann Arbor, MI: Health Administration Press.
American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Anderson, R. & Newman, J.F. (1973). Societal and Individual Determinants of Medical Care Utilization. Milbank Memorial Fund Q; 51:95.
Armbruster, P. & Fallon, T. (1994). Clinical, Sociodemographic and Systems Risk Factors for Attrition in a Children's Mental Health Clinic. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 64(4), 577-585.
Armbruster, P. & Kazdin, A. (1994). Attrition in Child Psychotherapy. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, 16:81-108.
Armbruster, P. & Schwab-Stone, M. (August, 1994). Who are the Child Guidance Clinic Dropouts? Hospital and Community.
Briones, D., Heller, P., Chalfant, P., Roberts, A., Aguirre-Hauchbaum, S. & Farr, W. (1990). Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, Psychological Distress, and Readiness to Utilize a Mental Health Facility. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147:10.
Brusn, Barbara J., Costello, E. Jane, Angold, A., Tweed, D., Stangl, D., Farmer, Elizabeth M.Z., & Erkanli, A. (1995). Children's Mental Health Service Use Across Service Sectors. Health Affairs, 14:3, 147-159.
Center for the Future of Children, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos, CA. The Future of Children, 2:1, Springer 1992.
Conoley, J. & Conoley, C. (1991). Collaboration for Child Adjustment: Issues for School-and Clinic-Based Child Psychologists. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59:6, 821-829.
Costello, E.J. (1989). Developments in Child Psychiatric Epidemiology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(6), 836-841.
Comer, J.P. (1988). Educating Poor Minority Children. Scientific American, 259:5, 42-48.
Comer, J.P. (1985). The Yale-New Haven Primary Prevention Project: A Follow-up Study. American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24:2, 154-160.
Flaskerud, J: The Effects of Culture-Compatible Intervention on the Utilization of Mental Health Services by Minority Clients. Community Mental Health Journal, 222:127-141, 1986.
Gomby, D. & Larson, C. (1992) Evaluation of School-linked Services. The Future of Children, 2:1, 68-84.
Gould, M.S., Wunsch-Hitzig, R. & Dohrenwend, B. (1981). Estimating the Prevalence of Childhood Psychopathology: A Critical Review. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 20:462-476.
Hale-Benson, Janice E. (1982). Black Children: Their roots, culture, and learning styles. Brigham Young University Press, 1982.
Harold, R. & Harold, N. (1993). School-Based Clinics: A Response to the Physical and Mental Health Needs of Adolescents. Health and Social Work, 18:1, 65-74.
Haynes, N.M. & Comer, J.P. (1989). The Effects of a School Development Program on Self-Concept. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Inc., 63:275-283.
Hendren, R., Weisen, R.B., Orley, J. (1994). Mental Health Programmes in Schools. World Health Organization, Geneva, Division of Mental Health.
Hill, R. (1977). The strengths of Black families. New York: Emerson Hall.
Kazdin, A. (1988). Child Psychotherapy: Developing and identifying effective treatments. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.
Kellam, S.G., Branch, J.D., Agrawai, K.C. et al. (1975). Mental Health and Going to School. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Knitzer, J., Steinberg, Z. & Fleisch, B. (1990). At the Schoolhouse Door. New York: Bank Street College of Education.
Koyanagi, C. (1994). Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, personal communication.
Koyanagi, C. & Brodie, J.R. (1994). Making Medicaid work to fund intensive community services for children with serious emotional disturbance: An Advocacy guide to financing key components of a comprehensive system of care. Washington: Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
Leaf, P., Bruce, M., Tischler, G. & Holzer, C. (1987). The Relationship between Demographic Factors and Attitudes toward Mental Health Services. Journal of Community Psychology, 15.
Leaf, P., Bruce, M., Tischler, G., Freeman, D., Weissman, M. & Myers, J. (1988). Factors Affecting the Utilization of Specialty and General Medical Mental Health Services. Medical Care, 26: 1.
Lear, J.G., Gleicher, H.B., St. Germaine, A., Porter, P.J. (1991). Reorganizing health care for adolescents: the experience of the school-based adolescent health care program. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12(6): 450-8.
Levy, J. & Shepardson, W. (1992). A Look at Current School-linked Service Efforts. The Future of Children, 2:1, 44-55.
Mechanic, D. (1980). Mental Health and Social Policy (2nd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Moos, R.H. & Moos, B.S. (1986). Family Environment Scale Manual, 2nd edition. Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. Palo Alto, California.
Morrill, W. (1992). Overview of Service Delivery to Children. The Future of Children, 2:1, 32-43.
President's Commission on Mental Health (1978). Report to the President. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Saxe, L., Cross, T. & Silverman, N. (1988). Children's Mental Health: The gap between what we know and what we do. American Psychologist, 43:800-807.
Scott, R.R., Balch, P. & Flynn, T.C. (1984). Assessing a CMHC's impact: Resident and gatekeeper awareness of center services. Journal of Community Psychology, 12:61-66.
Shaffer, D., Gould, M.S., Braso, J., Ambrosini, P., Fisher, P., Bird, H. & Aluwahlia, S. (1983). A Children's Global Assessment Scales (C-GAS). Archives of General Psychiatry, 40:1228-1231.
Stefl, M.E. & Prosperi, D.C. (1985). Barriers to Mental Health Service Utilization. Community Mental Health Journal, 21:3, 167-178.
Sue, S., Fujino, D., Hu, L., Takeuchi, D. & Zane, N. (1991). Community Mental Health Services for Ethnic Minority Groups: A Test of Gultural the Responsiveness Hypothesis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59:4, 533-540.
United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment (1986) Children's Mental Health: Problems and Services-A background paper (OTA-BP-H-33). Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.
United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment (1991) Adolescent Health (OTA-H-468). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Weist, Mark D. (in press) Advances in Clinical Child Psychology (Eds. TH Olendick & RJ Prinz) Plenum: New York.
WHO, Division of Mental Health: Mental Health Programmes in Schools. WHO/MNH/PSF/93.3 Rev.1, 1994.
Zahner, G.E.P., Pawelkiewicz, W., DeFrancesco, J.J., & Adnopoz, J. (1991) Children's Mental Health Service Needs and Utilization Patterns in an Urban Community: An Epidemiological Assessment. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31:5, 951-960.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Armbruster, P., Gerstein, S.H. & Fallon, T. Bridging the Gap Between Service Need and Service Utilization: A School-Based Mental Health Program. Community Ment Health J 33, 199–211 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025033326743
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025033326743