DeRigne LeaAnne
School of Social Work, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA.
Health Soc Work. 2010 Feb;35(1):7-15. doi: 10.1093/hsw/35.1.7.
Parents of children with long-term emotional or behavioral conditions often struggle to access and afford mental health services for their children.This article examines the parent-reported reasons for unmet mental health needs in children using the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, specifically investigating whether insurance status (insured versus uninsured) and insurance type (private versus public) influences why a child has an unmet mental health need. The sample included children whose parents reported a need for mental health care or counseling in the previous 12 months, focusing on children with long-term emotional/behavioral problems rather than children experiencing episodic events that might only require short-term mental health services. Findings indicate that being uninsured increases the likelihood of parents reporting costs too much as the reason for their child having unmet mental health needs, whereas being insured by public health insurance decreases the likelihood of reporting costs too much as the reason. Policy implications include the need for expansion of health insurance coverage for all children and the need to achieve parity for mental health benefits in private health insurance.
患有长期情绪或行为问题的儿童的父母往往难以获得并负担得起为孩子提供的心理健康服务。本文利用全国特殊医疗需求儿童调查，研究了父母报告的儿童心理健康需求未得到满足的原因，特别调查了保险状况（参保与未参保）和保险类型（私人保险与公共保险）是否会影响儿童心理健康需求未得到满足的原因。样本包括其父母在前12个月报告有心理健康护理或咨询需求的儿童，重点关注有长期情绪/行为问题的儿童，而非那些可能只需要短期心理健康服务的偶发事件儿童。研究结果表明，未参保会增加父母将费用过高作为孩子心理健康需求未得到满足的原因的可能性，而参加公共医疗保险则会降低将费用过高作为原因的可能性。政策影响包括需要扩大所有儿童的医疗保险覆盖范围，以及需要在私人医疗保险中实现心理健康福利的平等。
