Social and resource factors related to the utilization of emergency psychiatric services in the Athens area.

Emergency Psychiatric Service of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Athens is the only referral service for the emergency psychiatric cases coming from the Athens greater area. During 1981 2,169 patients used the Service. The relations of socio-demographic and resource factors of the 26 districts of the greater area of Athens to a Standardized Psychiatric Emergencies Index (S.P.E.I.) are investigated in the study. Unemployment, education, profession, distance from the service, psychiatric coverage and involuntary incoming were considered as independent variables and S.P.E.I. for 1981 as a dependent variable. Multiple regression analysis showed that the only factor significantly correlated with the emergency use of the psychiatric service is the distance from the Facility.