Are There Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Service Utilization Among People Who Are Severely Mentally Ill and Homeless?
Similar to other patient populations, severely mentally ill people from minority racial and ethnic groups use fewer services for their mental disorders. However, little is known about the existence of service disparities among severely mentally ill people who are homeless. Studying service disparities in this population is important because minorities are over-represented among severely mentally ill and homeless people and because the existence of service disparities would exacerbate an already challenging clinical situation. I will present and discuss the implications of findings from a study that sought to shed light on this issue through disparities analyses of service utilization data collected at baseline by the ACCESS study.
Marcela Horvitz-Lennon MD, MPH is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Psychiatry. The care of severely mentally ill adults is the focus of her work both as a practicing psychiatrist and a mental health services researcher. She is currently involved in quality of care and disparities research.
