Differences in white-nonwhite community mental health center service utilization patterns

Abstract

Routinely collected computerized data were used to study the process of service delivery in terms of admission patterns, type and quantity of services rendered, and status at termination for whites and nonwhites in two community mental health centers. Social area analysis techniques were employed to control for socio-economic status, ethnicity and life style variables, and an epidemiologic model was used to analyze admission and service delivery rate differences. It was found that nonwhite admission rates were at least twice as great as white rates. Service delivery rates to the population at large were considerably greater for nonwhites than for whites. Delivery of direct services within the centers differed for whites and nonwhites, but no consistent trends emerged when types and amounts of services rendered were analyzed, controlling for sex, ethnicity, age, diagnosis and social area. Disruption of care indices were greater for nonwhites than for whites. Highlighted were some of the complexities involved in interpreting results of utilization studies.