Impact of County-level health infrastructure on participation in a reform effort to reduce the use of jail for individuals with mental health disorders.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The national Stepping Up Initiative has attracted over 500 counties interested in reducing the use of jail for individuals with mental health disorders. This paper identifies socioeconomic, criminal legal, and health care factors that predict the likelihood of counties joining Stepping Up.

Results

After performing variable selection, logistic regression models were performed on 3,141 U.S. counties. Counties designated as medically underserved and/or mental health staffing shortage areas were less likely to participate in this initiative. Logistic regression models showed that larger counties (populations over 250,000) with better health care infrastructure, more mental health providers per capita, higher percent of Medicaid funded drug treatment services, and at l

SUBMITTER: Ramezani N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10318809 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature