A gender-based analysis of the relationship between income adequacy and unmet perceived need for mental health services in Canada.

摘要

Objectives. This study was a secondary analysis of Canadian Community Health Survey (Cycle 1.2) on Mental Health and Wellbeing to determine the prevalence of unmet perceived need for mental health services and the barriers to those services reported in Canada using a gender-based analysis, and to determine the relationship between gender, income adequacy and unmet perceived need for mental health services. Method. Data was disaggregated by gender to estimate the number and proportion of men and women reporting unmet perceived need for mental health services and barriers to those services. Chi-square and t-tests were used to evaluate the differences between those with reported unmet perceived need for mental health services to those without, on selected measures of socio-demographic, cultural, health-related and psych-social measures. Multiple logistic regression models were used to determine the unique contribution that both income adequacy and gender had on unmet perceived need for mental health services after adjusting for factors that were correlated with the outcome measure. Results. It was estimated that 5.5% of Canadian girls and women, and 3.6% of Canadian boys and men reported an unmet perceived need for mental health services in the year prior to the survey. Significant differences (p.05) observed for all measures of socio-demographic, cultural, health-related, psych-social, social support and mental health service use measures, between those who reported unmet perceived need for mental health services to those who did not. Bivariate analysis revealed an inverse relationship between income adequacy and unmet perceived need for mental health services. This relationship was observed for both genders. Compared to respondents in the highest income category, respondents in the lowest income category were 2.43 times more likely to report unmet perceived need for mental health services. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that being female was found to significantly predict unmet perceived need for mental health services after controlling for age, use of mental health resources in the past, having a mental illness in the past year, and other socio-demographic, cultural, health related, psych-social and social support confounding factors. Income adequacy did not remain in the final model.