Relationship of delay and client engagement between time of first contact and initial appointments to mental health initial appointment attendance.

摘要

In order to assess the relationship between wait time, engagement in services, and likelihood of attendance to scheduled intake or therapy sessions, this study reviewed the archival records of 236 clients who contacted an outpatient community mental health clinic over a seven-month period to schedule a psychotherapy appointment. Results provide support in favor of the hypotheses that clients enduring a longer delay between initial contact and a scheduled intake or initial therapy appointment were more likely to not attend the appointment, and that engagement moderated the impact of delay for intake appointments, such that for clients involved in community support services (CSS) the likelihood of attendance to intake is high, regardless of delay, whereas for clients not engaged in CSS, shorter delays until the intake appointment predict attendance. In regards to initial therapy attendance results are less conclusive, although at least some evidence exists that the following variables may have at least some role in moderating the effects of therapy attendance, delay, or engagement until therapy attendance: age, sex, insurance type, employment status, location, diagnosis, number of supports present at intake, and number of children present in the home. Findings suggest direction for clinic policy in regards to controllable factors of delay and engagement prior to initial mental health appointments.