What Prevents Low-Income Mothers from Accessing the Mental Health Care System?

Lower socioeconomic populations have higher rates of emotional distress, but lower utilization of mental health services.^1,2 Reduced treatment rates are only partially explained by financial barriers and lack of resources.^3,4 Authors from the University of Pittsburgh studied lower income mothers with mental health needs who bring their children for behavioral health services. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 127 women whose children were being seen at community mental health centers in 4 disadvantaged communities, including 2 from urban and 2 from rural areas. African American mothers were purposely over-sampled to ensure their representation; 40% of the study population was African American. Up to 60% of mothers in this subset were estimated to have depression or anxiety disorder based on previous studies of similar populations.^5–7 Through ethnographic …