Social determinants of mental health service utilization in Switzerland

Michelle Dey () and Anthony Francis Jorm
Additional contact information
Michelle Dey: University of Melbourne
Anthony Francis Jorm: University of Melbourne

International Journal of Public Health, 2017, vol. 62, issue 1, No 9, 85-93

Abstract: Abstract Objectives To investigate whether mental health services utilization in Switzerland is equitably distributed (i.e., predicted only by the need of a person). Methods Data on 17,789 participants of the Swiss Health Survey 2012 (≥15 years) was analysed. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict: having been in treatment for a psychological problem; having used psychotropic medication; having had medical treatment for depression; and having visited a psychologist or psychotherapist. Need (depression severity and risky alcohol consumption) and socio-demographic variables were used as independent variables. Results Depression severity was the strongest predictor for using mental health services. In contrast, risky alcohol consumption was not associated with an increased likelihood of using mental health services. After adjusting for need, the following groups were less likely to use (some of) the mental health services: males, young people, participants who (almost) work full-time, single/unmarried, non-Swiss people and those living in rural areas. Education and income were not significantly associated with the outcomes in the adjusted analyses. Conclusions Some socio-demographic subgroups are less likely to use mental health services despite having the same need.

Keywords: Behavioural model of health services use; Depression; Alcohol; Mental health services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-016-0898-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:62:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00038-016-0898-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/00038

DOI: 10.1007/s00038-016-0898-5

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Thomas Kohlmann, Nino Künzli and Andrea Madarasova Geckova

More articles in International Journal of Public Health from Springer, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().