The nature of help-seeking during psychiatric emergency service visits by a patient and an accompanying adult

Cynthia A. Claassen, Carroll W. Hughes, Saundra Gilfillan, Don McIntire, Ann Roose, Monica Basco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Utilization rates for urban psychiatric emergency services remain high, and the decision of seek care in this setting is poorly understood. Three hundred individuals accompanying patients to a psychiatric emergency service were interviewed about their help seeking and choice of treatment setting. Twenty- three of the interviewees (7.7 percent) were caregivers accompanying patients with severe and persistent mental illness. They were significantly more likely than other interviewees to know the difference between psychiatric emergency services and services offered by other outpatient providers. More than half reported that the patient accompanied was intermittently noncompliant, which required visiting either a walk-in service during the moment when the patient was cooperative or a facility equipped to provide involuntary treatment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)924-927
Number of pages4
JournalPsychiatric Services
Volume51
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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