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Why Wait? The Effect of Wait-Times on Subsequent Help-Seeking Among Families Looking for Children’s Mental Health Services

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Abstract

Placement on a wait-list may increase families’ help-seeking efforts, leading them to contact more than one children’s mental health (MH) agency/professional. Two issues were examined in the current study: 1) Does time on a wait-list for families impact the time to contact a new agency for children’s MH services? 2) What are the effects of predisposing (e.g., child age), need (e.g., child psychopathology), and enabling/system-level factors (e.g., parent treatment history) on the length of time parents wait before they contact a new agency for help with their child’s MH problems? A total of 273 families seeking help for their child (64 % boys, M = 10.7 years old, SD = 3.3) were asked about their contact with MH agencies/professionals during the previous year. Survival analyses, modeling time from initial wait-list placement to when a new agency was contacted, were conducted separately for families who did (n = 114), and those who did not (n = 159), receive help prior to contacting a new agency. Almost half of wait-listed families contacted a new agency by the end of the study period. Longer wait-time was associated with a greater likelihood of seeking help at a second agency with 25 % of families contacting a new agency within the first month of being wait-listed. Parents with previous treatment experience and families living in areas with more agencies contacted a new agency sooner. Subsequent help-seeking behaviour suggests parents’ intolerance for lengthy treatment delays may result in disorganized pathways to care. These findings suggest a highly fragmented service delivery system.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grants from the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (RCI-0959-06), the Consortium for Applied Research and Evaluation in Mental Health, and the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. At the time this study was conducted, Graham J. Reid was supported as the Bill and Anne Brock Professor in Child Health. He was also supported by the Children’s Health Foundation.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, 363 Windermere Rd, Room 326E, Westminister Hall, N6A 3K7, London, ON, Canada

    Kyleigh E. Schraeder & Graham J. Reid

  2. Departments of Psychology, Family Medicine & Pediatrics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Graham J. Reid

  3. Children’s Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada

    Graham J. Reid

  4. Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada

    Graham J. Reid

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  1. Kyleigh E. Schraeder
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Correspondence to Kyleigh E. Schraeder.

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Schraeder, K.E., Reid, G.J. Why Wait? The Effect of Wait-Times on Subsequent Help-Seeking Among Families Looking for Children’s Mental Health Services. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43, 553–565 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9928-z

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