Mental health needs assessment of Tucson's urban native American population

This report presents the design, implementation, and results of a 1992 ment al health needs assessment of Tucson's urban American Indians. The study wa s conducted under the auspices of the Traditional Indian Alliance (TIA) of Greater Tucson, Inc.(1) TIA is a community-based, non-profit corporation co mmitted to addressing the health and social welfare issues of Tucson's Amer ican Indians. As a result of having provided health and social services sin ce 1974, TIA recognized that there were many unmet needs for culturally sen sitive American Indian mental health programs. The organization established a goal of assessing the mental health needs of Tucson's urban American Ind ians in order to obtain the information needed to enhance program developme nt and the provision of services. This survey was conducted in order for Tr aditional Indian Alliance to enhance its mental health program development and improve the provision of mental health services to Tucson's urban Ameri can Indians. The specific objectives of this study on Tucson's urban Americ an Indian population included documentation of (a) the nature of socioecono mic problems that might have a psychological effect, (b) the existence of p sychological distress, and (c) the types of available support systems and t heir utilization.