Mental health and mental health care in rural America: the hope of redesigned primary care.

VHA Office of Rural Health • Fact Sheet • Volume 3 Issue 4 IN THIS ISSUE:  Rural mental health care and redesigned primary care  Did You Know?  Mental Health Pathway Mental Health and Mental Health Care in Rural America: the Hope of Redesigned Primary Care “In the United States, most people with mental health issues or disorders remain untreated.” Rural populations have a greater portion of untreated mental illness than nonrural communities. Rural children, rural military Veterans and older rural adults are acutely at risk of not receiving appropriate mental health treatment. Rural Children: Infants and young children are often not targeted for public mental health program funding. The situation is worse in rural areas where children have poorer access to mental health services compared with nonrural settings. Rural Veterans: Limited research on rural Veterans has shown that greater access to mental health services does not equate to a proportionate increase in utilization. Military values based on selfreliance and fear of eventual discrimination contribute to the rural Veteran’s reluctance to seek treatment. Older Rural Adults: One study demonstrated that elderly rural residents had a less positive view of mental health services than their nonrural counterparts. These attitudes may contribute to lower utilization in older rural adults. The authors concluded that mental service integration with primary care based on a medical home model will most effectively decrease the treatment gap between rural and nonrural residents. They recommend providing culturally relevant family centric care, integrated onsite treatment for patients lacking community resources and frequent communication with providers to improve care coordination. They argued that implementing these components will decrease mental heath treatment disparities between rural and nonrural residents. Citation: Lutfiyya, L.N., Bianco, J.A., Quinlan, S.K., Hall, C., & Waring, S.C. (2012). A literature review of different studies about mental health care disparities between rural and nonrural residents. Dis Mon 2012;58:629-638 0011-5029/2012. 