Who experiences unmet need for mental health services and what other barriers to accessing health care do they face? Findings from Australia and Canada

Abstract

Summary Purpose To examine factors associated with unmet need for mental health services and links with barriers to access to care more broadly. Methodology The Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Surveys from 2013 and 2016 were used to explore factors associated with unmet need for adults who experienced emotional distress for 1320 respondents in Australia and 2284 in Canada. Findings Over one in five adults in Australia (21%) and in Canada (25%) experienced emotional distress, just over half said they received professional help (51% in Australia, 59% in Canada). The majority of those who did not get help indicated did not want to see a professional (37% in Australia, 30% in Canada). For those who did seek help, the factors associated with not receiving care included lower income, higher out‐of‐pocket health care costs, and poorer health. When compared with people with met needs, those with unmet needs for mental health services were more likely to also experience affordability, medication, and trust‐related access barriers (AOR range 2.41 to 7.49 for the two countries, P < 0.01). Conclusion Including unmet needs for mental health services as part of regular reporting on access to care may bring attention to access barriers for people with mental health conditions.

The psychological effects of COVID-19 spread in young Canadian adults

“…These changes, along with the threat of the virus, can have negative impacts on mental health (Béland et al, 2020). Given the different responses to COVID-19 across countries and the existing unmet mental health needs in Canadian adults (Corscadden et al, 2019), we sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic specifically affected young Canadian adults. We investigated the association of symptoms of psychological and emotional distress with specific stressors related to COVID-19.…”

Pain-driven emergency department visits and food insecurity: a cross-sectional study linking Canadian survey and health administrative data

“…Physicians in Canada have raised concerns about dispensing of opioid-based analgesics in light of the rampant opioid crisis disproportionately hurting marginalized groups, 69 especially food-insecure people. 19 However, out-of-pocket expenses on non-opioid treatment may hinder proper pain management at early stages 32,70 and increase the burden on the health care system by forcing patients with pain into free-of-charge, yet resource-intensive, emergency department use and hazardous coping strategies, such as illicit opioid use. †"Pain-driven ED visits" refers to pain-driven ED visits during the past 12 months.…”

Unmet mental health needs in the general population: perspectives of Belgian health and social care professionals

“…Despite these limitations and contextual remarks, we can conclude that our findings are in line with those of epidemiological studies. According to our participants, UMHNs are most prevalent in vulnerable groups such as people living in poverty, ethnic minorities, and in the young and old age groups [11,21,22]. These are groups for which multiple barriers are often present, both on the supply-and demand-sides.…”

“…Vulnerable groups are generally more likely to underuse or experience access barriers to health care, resulting in high levels of UMHNs [ 20 ]. Groups with a high level of UMHNs include the young and the elderly, ethnic or cultural minorities, people with poorer health and people with lower income [ 11 , 21 – 23 ]. Also patients with more complex needs are less likely to receive appropriate care, such as those with a longer disease course, comorbidities and substance abuse [ 10 , 11 , 21 , 22 ].…”