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Sociodemographic Variation in Increasing Needs for Mental Health Services among Canadian Adults from 2002 to 2012

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Abstract

Background

Numerous countries have developed public health programs and restructured mental health service delivery to alleviate the growing burden of mental illness. These initiatives address increased needs for mental health services, as individuals become better-informed and more open-minded concerning psychiatric symptoms and mental health care. This study aimed to investigate how needs for mental health services have increased among Canadian adults in recent years, and how needs may differ across different sociodemographic groups.

Data and methods

The study compared data from the Canadian Community Health Survey for 2002 (n = 31,744), and 2012 (n = 23,319), including respondents 18 years old and over. Needs for mental health services were defined in terms of major depression (MD), psychological distress (PD), consultations with various health professionals, and by objective and perceived unmet needs (PUNs). Odds ratios were estimated using hierarchical logistic regressions, controlling for sociodemographic variables.

Results

Overall, needs for mental health services were higher in 2012 than in 2002, with increases affecting some sociodemographic groups more than others. MD and PD grew disproportionately among lower income individuals and women. Individuals hospitalized for psychiatric reasons, those unemployed, and men accounted for most of the increase in healthcare consultations. PUNs were more pronounced among unemployed individuals, and respondents born in Canada.

Conclusion

Findings from this study confirm the increasing and need for mental health services in Canada, and suggest that public health campaigns should be geared to specific sociodemographic groups.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge that access to the Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey was provided by the Centre Interuniversitaire Québécois de Statistiques Sociales (CIQSS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Aline Drapeau

  2. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Marie Josée Fleury & Lia Gentil

  3. Research Center, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Marie Josée Fleury & Lia Gentil

Authors
  1. Aline Drapeau
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  2. Marie Josée Fleury
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  3. Lia Gentil
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Correspondence to Marie Josée Fleury.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the ethical review board of the centre de recherche of the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montreal with approval number 2017–327.

Informed Consent

This study is based on a national population survey conducted by Statistics Canada. Consent to participate in this survey was obtained by Statistics Canada.

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Drapeau, A., Fleury, M.J. & Gentil, L. Sociodemographic Variation in Increasing Needs for Mental Health Services among Canadian Adults from 2002 to 2012. Psychiatr Q 90, 137–150 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-018-9607-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-018-9607-2

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