Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics最新文献

Background: Mental health issues can impact overall health status, personal relationships, workplace productivity, and other outcomes.

Aims of the study: The primary objective of this study is to determine whether recent and lifetime mental health problems are significantly related to respondents' subjective social status (SSS).

Methods: Respondents to Waves IV (2008-2009) and V (2016-2018) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) provide the data for our research. Our empirical approach estimates Spearman correlation coefficients between self-reported mental health measures and SSS followed by multivariate regression models. The final empirical models estimate fixed-effects regressions to control for potential bias due to time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. SSS is measured on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating perceived highest place in society.

Results: All four explanatory mental health measures (ever been diagnosed with depression, ever been diagnosed with PTSD, ever been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, and past 12 month psychological or emotional counseling) are negatively and significantly (p < 0.05) associated with the outcome variable, SSS.

Discussion: Relative placement in society is associated with overall health and well-being. This study contributes in a methodologically meaningful way to the existing literature by employing empirically advanced statistical techniques to panel data. The main findings clearly demonstrate that mental health issues are negatively associated with SSS.

Implications: These findings have important policy implications for mental health counselors, employers, and society in general as mental health problems become more common and less stigmatized in the U.S.

Background: Value-based reimbursement (VBR) has become increasingly common among medical practitioners but mental health practitioners (MHPs) have largely remained in fee-for-service (FFS) arrangements. Aligning payment incentives to clinical outcomes rather than volume of services, VBR aspires to achieve health care's quadruple aim, namely improved patient experience, improved population health, reduced costs, and improved work life of health care providers.

Aims of the study: (i) Describe both the historical challenges to implementing VBR for mental health care within the United States, along with the shifting healthcare landscape which now enables VBR arrangements between payers and MHPs; (ii) Highlight considerations for defining quality care and establishing VBR contracting.

Results, discussion and implications: Historically, VBR has been challenging to implement due to a shortage of MHPs in payer networks. Technological challenges such as the absence of electronic medical records required for efficient data analysis and immature data-sharing capabilities, have hindered VBR, as has a culture of clinical practice that relies on clinical intuition as opposed to measured outcomes. VBR is now gaining traction based on overwhelming evidence for measurement-based care, a prerequisite for outcome reporting that larger practices have begun to achieve. Multiple stakeholder organizations have been advocating for measurement-based care. Payers and MHPs can and should collaboratively structure VBR contracts to align greater reimbursements with achievable increases in quality across multiple domains. Contracts can focus on numerous process metrics, such as time to care, treatment adherence, and appropriate avoidance of emergency care, along with clinical and functional outcomes. In some instances, case rates for episodes of care can meanwhile help payer and MHPs transition from FFS to VBR.

Background: Maternal depression is the most prevalent mental health problem worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. It impairs the cognitive, physical, and social abilities of mothers and disturbs effective parenting practices. Therefore, the consequences of mental, physical, and social suffering are not limited to the mother herself but are transmitted to future generations by negatively affecting the child's health.

Aim of the study: This study aims to analyse the relationship between maternal depression and child's physical health in Turkey, a middle-income, developing country.

Methods: By using the 2019 round of the "Turkish Health Survey" dataset prepared by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), we focus on the general health status, anaemia prevalence, morbidity of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and diarrhoea along with other common short-term childhood illnesses among under-five children. Maternal depression is assessed by the standardised eight-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). We employ a linear probability model to examine the relationship between maternal depression and the physical health of under-five children. In addition, we investigate the potential protective role of maternal education against the detrimental effects of maternal depression on child health. Since we are simultaneously analysing several outcome measures, in order to avoid any Type I error, we use the novel Romano-Wolf multiple hypothesis testing method.

Results: We find that children whose mothers suffer from mild to severe depression are at a 12 percentage points higher risk of contracting infectious diseases. Similarly, the total number of non-chronic illnesses a child falls victim to increases by one-third if the mother portrays depressive symptoms. In addition, our results suggest that completing at least high school reduces the burdens of maternal depression on children's physical health by 8 percentage points.

Discussion: Considering both the individual and societal burden of infectious disease prevalence, we conclude that the development of worldwide policies and initiatives aimed at decreasing maternal depression as much as increasing maternal education is essential for safeguarding the rights of both women and children, especially in developing countries.

Limitations of the study: The findings of this research provide a linear association between maternal mental health and under-five child's physical health, rather than a causal effect.