Abstract
Around 25% of adults experience a mental illness in each year and approximately 60% received no mental health care. There are still long delays between the onset of symptoms and the first psychiatric consult and treatment. Objective: To understand the pathway to care and to determine the delay in seeking help for mental health problems, considering sociodemographic variables in patients admitted in two Romanian acute psychiatric inpatients settings. Methods: Between May-August 2015, WHO's Pathway Encounter Form was applied to 200 individuals, at their first admission, consecutively hospitalized in acute psychiatry clinics from Targu Mures and Craiova, Romania. Results: The profile of the participants in this study was: woman in the sixth decade of life, having an average economic status and without psychiatric history, searching help for depressive symptoms (by themselves or at the advice of the family), mainly to a psychiatrist or a General Practitioner. The average delay from the onset of symptoms to the first psychiatry consult was 16 weeks. Only previous positive personal history for MH problems and current diagnosis had a high statistically significant influence on the moment when subjects of our study decided to access the MH services. Conclusions: A better knowledge and understanding on the factors that influence people to seek help in mental health problems would be useful for improving the future organization of healthcare services and programs.
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call