Assessing Access to Trauma-Informed Outpatient Mental Health Services for Adolescents: A Mystery Shopper Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The authors aimed to examine how access to trauma-informed mental health services in safety-net health centers varies by insurance type and race-ethnicity of the care seeker.

Methods

In this mystery shopper study, three women (White, Latina, and Black voice actresses) called community mental health centers (CMHCs) and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) (N=229) in Cook County, Illinois, posing as mothers requesting a mental health appointment for their traumatized adolescent child. Each health center was called twice-once in the spring and once in the summer of 2021-with alternating insurance types reported (Medicaid or private insurance). Ability to schedule an appointment, barriers to access, wait times, and availability of trauma-specific treatment were a

SUBMITTER: Adams DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11062805 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature