Users and "teasers": failure to follow through with initial mental health service inquiries in a child and family treatment center.

Abstract

This article examines the experience of families who contacted a child and family community mental health treatment center, but then did not follow through to receive even one session of diagnosis or treatment at the agency. The paper reports the base rate for this behavior in a large (N = 2,358) sample of cases who either only made inquiry or who received treatment at the agency. The inquiry group, or "teasers," tended to have children who were older than client groups, to have relatively more behavioral and fewer personality problems, to have demonstrated problems earlier than client groups, and to have parents who were slightly older. A follow-up study was conducted with 100 inquiry and 100 client cases. The relative efficacy of telephone and written questionnaire methodologies are compared, demonstrating that the telephone approach was more effective. Client-group children were reported to be only moderately better off at the time of follow-up than the inquiry group, but conclusions about the effects of treatment are limited by the finding that many members of the inquiry group had sought treatment elsewhere after their brief contact with the agency. Implications of this study for community mental health administration and for future research in this area are discussed.