Prevention Research Center, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
Community Ment Health J. 2023 Jan;59(1):122-131. doi: 10.1007/s10597-022-00991-1. Epub 2022 Jun 11.
Mental health parity legislation can improve mental health outcomes. U.S. state legislators determine whether state parity laws are adopted, making it critical to assess factors affecting policy support. This study examines the prevalence and demographic correlates of legislators' support for state parity laws for four mental illnesses- major depression disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, and anorexia/bulimia. Using a 2017 cross-sectional survey of 475 U.S. legislators, we conducted bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression. Support for parity was highest for schizophrenia (57%), PTSD (55%), and major depression (53%) and lowest for anorexia/bulimia (40%). Support for parity was generally higher among females, more liberal legislators, legislators in the Northeast region of the country, and those who had previously sought treatment for mental illness. These findings highlight the importance of better disseminating evidence about anorexia/bulimia and can inform dissemination efforts about mental health parity laws to state legislators.
精神健康平权立法可以改善精神健康结果。美国州立法者决定是否通过州平权法，因此评估影响政策支持的因素至关重要。本研究调查了立法者支持四种精神疾病（重度抑郁症、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、精神分裂症和厌食症/贪食症）的州平权法的流行率和人口统计学相关性。使用 2017 年对 475 名美国立法者进行的横断面调查，我们进行了双变量分析和多变量逻辑回归。对平权的支持率最高的是精神分裂症（57%）、创伤后应激障碍（55%）和重度抑郁症（53%），对厌食症/贪食症的支持率最低（40%）。平权的支持率通常在女性、更自由的立法者、来自美国东北部地区的立法者以及那些曾经寻求精神疾病治疗的立法者中更高。这些发现强调了更好地传播关于厌食症/贪食症的证据的重要性，并可以为向州立法者传播精神健康平权法提供信息。
