Vuong Ngoc X, Woods Nikki K
Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Wichita, KS.
Kans J Med. 2023 Feb 21;16(1):28-34. doi: 10.17161/kjm.vol16.18542. eCollection 2023.
The lack of access to behavioral health care, trends in behavioral health issues, and the impact of social determinants of health underlie the need for behavioral health reform in Kansas. However, stakeholders may affect progress toward behavioral health reform. This study examined stakeholders' attitudes toward behavioral health reform.
The authors analyzed data from a survey administered to elected officials, members of health advocacy groups, state employees, and payers in Kansas. Main outcome measures included attitudes toward the perceived benefit of certain behavioral health and social determinants of health policies and the perceived performance of the primary care and behavioral health care systems in Kansas.
Payers perceived legislation to improve insurance coverage for behavioral health issues as less beneficial than state employees and members of health advocacy groups. Elected officials perceived legislation to address various social determinants of health as less beneficial than health advocates. Members of health advocacy groups rated the behavioral health care system more poorly than elected officials did.
Preliminary findings reflected both the barriers and facilitators to behavioral health reform in Kansas. However, several limitations undermined the generalizability of these findings. Future studies should consider more representative sample sizes, additional variables in behavioral health and social determinants of health policies, and more comprehensive, validated measures.
堪萨斯州缺乏行为健康护理服务、行为健康问题的趋势以及健康的社会决定因素的影响是该州进行行为健康改革的必要性所在。然而，利益相关者可能会影响行为健康改革的进展。本研究调查了利益相关者对行为健康改革的态度。
作者分析了对堪萨斯州当选官员、健康倡导组织成员、州政府雇员和支付方进行的一项调查的数据。主要结果指标包括对某些行为健康和健康的社会决定因素政策的感知益处的态度，以及对堪萨斯州初级保健和行为健康护理系统的感知表现。
支付方认为改善行为健康问题保险覆盖范围的立法不如州政府雇员和健康倡导组织成员认为的那样有益。当选官员认为解决各种健康的社会决定因素的立法不如健康倡导者认为的那样有益。健康倡导组织成员对行为健康护理系统的评价比当选官员更差。
初步研究结果反映了堪萨斯州行为健康改革的障碍和促进因素。然而，一些局限性削弱了这些研究结果的普遍性。未来的研究应考虑更具代表性的样本量、行为健康和健康的社会决定因素政策中的其他变量，以及更全面、经过验证的测量方法。
