Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Department of Mental Health, Brain Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Oct 12;17(10):e0272073. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272073. eCollection 2022.
Mental health resources are an important basis for coping with mental health services. The equity is an important index of a reasonable allocation of health resources. This study aims to evaluate the mental health resources and its equity allocation in Hunan Province, which is one of the typical central south areas of China, so as to provide reference for the development of mental health in China and other areas.
Data related to mental health resources was obtained from the Project of Mental Health Resources in Hunan Province, which was conducted by the Department of Hunan Mental Health Center in 2019. The Gini coefficient, the Theil index and other indicators were employed to quantitatively evaluate the equity of mental health resources' allocation.
By the end of 2018, there were a total of 141 mental health institutions in Hunan Province of China, the bed density was 5.31 beds per 10,000 people, the ratio of doctors to nurses was 2.20, the number of outpatients of mental health institutions was 1288,047 per year. The mental health resources' allocation in terms of demographic dimension were in a preferred status with the Gini values all less than 0.3, and the Gini values for mental health resources`allocation in terms of geographical dimension ranged from 0.24 to 0.35. The Theil index for mental health allocation in terms of demographic dimension was lower than 0.05, and the Theil index for mental health allocation in terms of geographical dimension ranged from 0.04 to 0.11.
The shortage of mental health resources is still the priority issue to be increased and optimized by policy-makers in Hunan in the future, especially the human resources. Moreover, the utilization of mental health resources was low though its equity was fair. Policy-makers need to consider the high utilization and geographical accessibility of health resources among different regions to ensure people in different regions could get access to available health services.
心理健康资源是应对心理健康服务的重要基础。公平性是卫生资源合理配置的重要指标。本研究旨在评估中国中南典型地区之一湖南省的心理健康资源及其公平分配情况，为中国及其他地区的心理健康发展提供参考。
本研究数据来源于湖南省精神卫生中心于 2019 年开展的《湖南省精神卫生资源专项调查》项目。采用基尼系数、泰尔指数等指标对心理健康资源配置的公平性进行定量评价。
截至 2018 年底，湖南省共有精神卫生机构 141 家，床位密度为每万人 5.31 张，医生与护士配比为 2.20，精神卫生机构年门急诊量为 1288047 人次。人口学维度的心理健康资源配置处于较优状态，基尼系数均小于 0.3，地理维度的基尼系数在 0.24 至 0.35 之间。人口学维度的心理健康资源配置泰尔指数均小于 0.05，地理维度的泰尔指数在 0.04 至 0.11 之间。
未来，决策者应优先增加和优化湖南省的心理健康资源，特别是人力资源。同时，尽管湖南省心理健康资源配置公平，但资源利用率较低。决策者需要考虑不同地区卫生资源的高利用率和地理可及性，以确保不同地区的人们都能获得可利用的卫生服务。
