2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

328885
Assessing mental health services in rural NY for collaborative planning across agencies


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 12:30 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.

Bonni Hodges, Ph.D, Health Department, State University of New York, College at Cortland, Cortland, NY
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background: The Community Services Board (CSB) of a rural county in central N.Y. commissioned a county mental health (MH) services needs assessment to serve as a foundation for inter-agency long-range planning. The assessment sought to provide information that could be used by the CSB and its member agencies to identify areas for cross-agency collaboration, prioritize the use of resources, validate perceived unmet service needs, and measure community member awareness of existing mental health services.

 Methodology: CSB agency document review including transcripts from focus groups and key informant interviews and related survey data collected by some agencies within the past 3 years; review of epidemiological and service use data; community intercept survey (n=170); key informant interviews with school personnel (n=6) and parents of school children receiving psychological services in the schools (n=1). All qualitative data were analyzed via key words and themes were identified; descriptive statistics were computed for the quantitative survey data.

Findings: No or not enough services for substance abuse treatment and harm reduction for any age group; low awareness of community-based MH services by the general public and area physicians; large unmet service needs in youth MH services; need better integrated care across medical, community, and school MH services; additional emergency, supervised, and group housing needed; transportation was a barrier for care and daily living.

Implications: Continue to seek funding mechanisms and accessible providers to increase services to youth; create a web of systematic referrals; identify best channels to communicate existing MH services to general public and physicians.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration

Learning Objectives:
Assess environmental, resource, knowledge and attitudinal barriers affecting mental health service delivery; Describe barriers to accessing mental health services in a rural community

Keyword(s): Mental Health, Health Care Access

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principle or co-principle of multiple regional and state-funded needs assessment and evaluation projects across areas, but principally in the delivery of local community health and school health services, and cardiovascular disease risk reduction. I am principle author of "Assessment and Planning in Health Programs"
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3274.0: Designing Strength-Based Mental Health Services: Screening, Wellness Supports, Hospital and Continuum of Care