The authors sought to examine how parental preference match for service and various types of barriers to service relate to involvement in urban child mental health care. A single-group longitudinal design was used to examine whether service use at an outpatient child mental health clinic was related to parents receiving the type of service they reported wanting for their child at intake and various types of barriers to service. Families who received the service parents reported wanting for their child attended on average 2 treatment sessions more, whereas barriers were unrelated to service use. Considering parent preference for child mental health service may be an effective strategy in increasing service involvement in urban child mental health care.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AttarB. K., GuerraN. G., & TolanP. H. (1994). Neighborhood disadvantage, stressful life events, and adjustment in urban elementary-school children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 23, 391–400.
2.
BaroneC., WeissbergR. P., KasprowW., & VoyceC. K. (1995). Involvement in multiple problem behaviors of young urban adolescents. Journal of Primary Prevention, 15, 261–283.
3.
BlackM. M., & KrishnakumarA. (1998). Children in low-income, urban settings: Interventions to promote mental health and well-being. American Psychologist, 53, 635–646.
4.
BrandenburgN. A., FriedmanR. M., & SilverS. E. (1987). The epidemiology of childhood psychiatric disorders: Prevalence findings from recent studies. Journal of the academy of child and adolescent psychiatry, 29, 76–83.
5.
BrownW. H., HornE. M., HeiserJ., G., & OdomS. L. (1996). Project BLEND: An inclusive model of early intervention services. Journal of Early Intervention, 20, 364–375.
6.
BurnsB. J., AngoldA., Magruder-HabibK., (1994). The child and adolescent service assessment. Developmental Epidemiology Program.Durham, NC: Duke University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry.
7.
CoatsworthJ. D., SantistebanD. A., McBrideC. K., & SzapocznikJ. (2001). Brief strategic family therapy versus community control: Engagement, retention, and an exploration of the moderating role of adolescent symptom severity. Family Process, 40, 313–332.
8.
DryfoosJ. G. (1990). Adolescents at risk: Prevalence and prevention.New York: Oxford University Press.
9.
GriffinJ. A., CicchettiD., & LeafP. J. (1993). Characteristics of youth identified from a psychiatric case register as first-time users of services. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44, 62–65.
10.
GuerraN. G., HuesmannL. R., TolanP. H., Van AckerR., & EronL. (1995). Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 518–528.
11.
HahnE. J. (1995). Predicting Head Start parent involvement in an alcohol and other drug prevention program. Nursing Research, 44, 45–51.
12.
JensenP. S., HoagwoodK., & PettiT. (1996). Outcomes of mental health care for children and adolescents: II. Literature review and application of a comprehensive model. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1064–1077.
13.
JessorR. (1993). Successful adolescent development among youth in highrisk settings. American Psychologist, 48, 117–126.
14.
KazdinA. (1993). Premature termination from treatment among children referred for antisocial behavior. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 31, 415–425.
15.
KazdinA. E., HollandL., & CrowleyM. (1997). Family experiences of barriers to treatment and premature termination from child therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 453–463.
16.
KazdinA. E., & MazurickJ. L. (1994). Dropping out of child psychotherapy: Distinguishing early and late dropouts over the course of treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 1069–1074.
17.
KazdinA. E., & WassellG. (1999). Barriers to treatment participation and therapeutic change among children referred for conduct disorder. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 160–172.
18.
KazdinA. E., & WassellG. (2000). Predictors of barriers to treatment and therapeutic change in outpatient therapy for antisocial children and their families. Mental Health Services Research, 2, 27–40.
19.
McCabeK., YehM., HoughR. L., LandsverkJ., HurlburtM. S., CulverS. W. & ReynoldsB. (1999). Racial/ethnic representation across five public sectors of care for youth. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 7, 72–82.
20.
McKayM. M., McCadamK., & GonzalesJ. J. (1996). Addressing the barriers to mental health services for inner city children and their caretakers. Community Mental Health Journal, 32, 353–361.
21.
McKayM., StoeweJ., McCadamK., & GonzalesJ. (1998). Increasing access to child mental health services for urban children and their care givers. Health and Social Work, 23, 9–15.
NockM. K., & KazdinA. E. (2001). Parent expectancies for child therapy: Assessment and relation to participation in treatment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 10, 155–180.
24.
PadgettD. K., PatrickC., BurnsB. J., SchlesingerH. J., & CohenJ. (1993). The effect of insurance benefit changes on use of child and adolescent outpatient mental health services. Medical Care, 31, 96–110.
25.
RegierD. A., NarrowW. E., RaeD. S., ManderscheidR.W., LockeB., & GoodwinF. K. (1993). The de facto US mental and addictive disorders service system: Epidemiologic catchment area prospective 1- year prevalence rates of disorders and services. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 85–94.
26.
RichmanN., StevensonJ., & GrahamP. J. (1982). Pre-school to school: A behavioural study.London: Academic Press.
27.
SpothR., RedmondC., HockadayC., & ShinC. Y. (1996). Barriers to participation in family skills preventive interventions and their evaluations: A replication and extension. Family Relations: Journal of Applied Family & Child Studies, 45, 247–254.
28.
TolanP. H., & HenryD. (1996). Patterns of psychopathology among urban poor children: Co-morbidity and aggression effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1094–1099.
29.
TolanP. H., & HenryD. (2000). Patterns of psychopathology among urban poor children: Community, age, ethnicity and gender effects. Manuscript submitted for publication.
30.
TumaJ. M. (1989). Mental health services for children: The state of the art. American Psychologist, 44, 188–199.
31.
WilsonM. (1987). The Black extended family: An analytic consideration. Developmental Psychology, 22, 246–258.
