Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113117

John Crilly, PhD, MPH, MSW, Psychiatry, University of Rochester, 300 Crittenden Blvd., Rochester, NY 14642, 585-275-9155, john_crilly@urmc.rochester.edu, Steven Lamberti, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue Box PSYCH, Rochester, NY 14642, and Virgina Hiday, PhD, Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8107, Raleigh, NC 27695-8107.

Minimal research exists describing mental health services utilization (MHSU) of persons with mental illness living in the community who have been arrested or are on probation. The single estimate in the literature (Ditton, 1999) is that 56% receive mental health services (MHS). This dissertation provides the first estimate using nationally representative data of MHSU of mentally ill persons comparing those arrested, on probation, both arrested and on probation, and with no criminal justice system involvement. This is important because the best practices literature recommends increasing MHSU to prevent arrest or recidivism. These estimates can therefore serve as a baseline comparison for developing public health interventions. The 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) was used to develop estimates. Probability of MHSU for mentally ill persons with no criminal justice system involvement (22.9%) approached the best national estimate for the entire U.S. adult population (23%). Arrested-only and probation-only groups had lower probability of use (18.6% per group) while those both arrested and on probation had the highest (26.9%). Among MHS users, arrested-only had the lowest frequency of use (mean of 1.64 visits) and probation-only and both arrested and on probation had the highest (means of 2.59 and 3.37 visits, respectively. While mentally ill persons who have been both arrested and on probation have the highest probability of MHSU, their probability of use is still far short of 100%.

Learning Objectives:

• The learning objective intended for the audience of this session is to gain an understanding of the overall use of the general mental health services system by people with mental disorders and criminal justice involvement

Keywords: Mental Health Services, Criminal Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation