Overview

Abstract (English)

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 1o 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 proporlion of men and women reporting unmet perceived need for mental health services and bariers to those services. Chi-square and t-tests were used to evaluate the differences behveen those with repofied unmet perceived need for mental health services to those without, on selected measures of socio-demographic, cultural, health-related and psych-social measures. Multiple logìstrc regression models were used to determirmine the unique contribution that both income adequacy and gender had on umnet perceived need for mental health services after adjusting for factors that were correlated with the outcome measure. Results: lt was estinrated ThaT 5.5% of Canadian girls and women, and 3.6% of Calnadian boys and nren reported an umnet perceived use 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 reporled 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 perceived need for mental health services. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that being female was found to significantly predict unnret perceived need for mental health servìces after controllilg 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 supporl confounding factors. Income adequacy did not remain in the final model.

Abstract (French)

Please note that abstracts only appear in the language of the publication and might not have a translation.