Predictors of partially met or unmet need reported by consumers of mental health services: an analysis of data from the Australian National Survey ofMental Health and Wellbeing

Objective: We examined data from the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing to identify factors associated with consumers of mental healt h help reporting that their needs were unmet or only partially met. Predict or factors included sociodemographic variables, psychological morbidity mea sures and type of health practitioner seen. Method: Five types of mental health help were considered: information, medi cation, psychological therapy, social interventions and skills training. A respondent's unmet need for each type of mental health help was given one o f three values: 0: no unmet need reported; 1: some but not enough help of t his type provided; and 2: no help of this type provided although it was nee ded. Multiple ordered logistic regressions were undertaken to identify pred ictor variables associated with reporting unmet need for each type of help. Results: Few sociodemographic factors were found to be associated with cons umers reporting unmet need for mental health help. Those with less educatio n were more likely to report unmet need for medication. Being male, living alone and being unemployed were associated with unmet need for skills train ing. Having seen a general practitioner for mental health reasons was found to be associated with reporting unmet need for both information and social interventions. Self-identifying, or being diagnosed, as having an anxiety disorder was associated with reporting unmet need for four of the five type s of help. Conclusions: In this exploratory analysis, we examined factors associated w ith consumers of mental health help reporting that their needs were unmet o r partially met. We found that the needs of those with anxiety problems wer e not generally well met. Our findings also indicate there is a need to con tinue to improve collaboration between the medical and community services s ectors.