Are Barriers to Service and Parental Preference Match for Service Related to Urban Child Mental Health Service Use?

Abstract

The authors sought to examine how parental preference match for service and various types of barriers to service relate to involvement in urban child mental health care. A single-group longitudinal design was used to examine whether service use at an outpatient child mental health clinic was related to parents receiving the type of service they reported wanting for their child at intake and various types of barriers to service. Families who received the service parents reported wanting for their child attended on average 2 treatment sessions more, whereas barriers were unrelated to service use. Considering parent preference for child mental health service may be an effective strategy in increasing service involvement in urban child mental health care.