Financial Barriers to Mental Healthcare Services and Depressive Symptoms among Residents of Washington Heights, New York City

2021 ◽  
pp. 154041532110575
Author(s):  
Roman Pabayo ◽  
Claire Benny ◽  
Sze Yan Liu ◽  
Erin Grinsteyn ◽  
Peter Muennig
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
York City ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Washington Heights

Objectives: In the United States, Hispanics are more likely to experience financial barriers to mental health care than non-Hispanics. We used a unique survey to study the effect of these financial barriers on the severity of depressive symptoms among Hispanics who had previously been diagnosed as having depression. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the 2015 Washington Heights Community Survey, administered to 2,489 households in Manhattan, New York City. Multiple regression models and propensity score matching were used to estimate the association between financial barriers to mental health care and depressive symptoms and the likelihood of being clinically depressed. Results: Among those diagnosed with depression, those with financial barriers to mental health services or counseling had significantly higher (β = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.70) depressive symptoms. When propensity score matching was utilized, those with financial barriers to mental health services had significantly greater depressive symptoms (β = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.37, 0.89) and were significantly more likely to be currently depressed (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.46, 3.89), in comparison to those who had access. Conclusions: Making mental health care more affordable and therefore more accessible to Hispanics is one step toward mitigating the burden on mental illness and decreasing health disparities.

Developing a Comprehensive Trauma- and Resiliency- Focused Program After Superstorm Sandy in New York City

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 613-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Scigliano ◽  
Virginia Roncaglione ◽  
Paula A. Madrid
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
York City ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Mobile Clinic ◽  
Superstorm Sandy

ABSTRACTTo contribute to the ongoing discourse about successful programming supporting intermediate behavioral and mental health needs of vulnerable communities affected by disaster, this article presents the Children’s Health Fund (CHF) Sandy Recovery and Resiliency Program as a descriptive case study for a multifaceted, community-based approach to building resiliency, coping, and socioemotional skills in an underserved community in New York City that was affected by Superstorm Sandy. The case study involves retrospective review and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data that were collected as part of routine care and program implementation. From the analysis emerged a program consisting of 3 components: (1) delivery of workshops and community events to decrease stigma and build community-wide resilience, (2) delivery of workshops for students and educators in the local school to increase coping skills as well as referrals to clinical mental health care, and (3) provision of mental health care via a mobile mental health clinic. As a result, we found that following periods of excessive trauma, children and families require a broad-based approach to mental health support. Additionally, the use of the mobile clinic abated most common access barriers and served as a proxy of the concern of the organization for the community. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 5)

Why The Children’s Aid Society Is Involved in This Work

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Coltoff
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
York City ◽  
Community Schools ◽  
Dental Services ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Washington Heights

The Children’s Aid Society (CAS), founded in 1853, is one of the largest and oldest child and family social-welfare agencies in the country. It serves 150,000 children and families through a continuum of services—adoption and foster care; medical, mental health, and dental services; summer and winter camps; respite care for the disabled; group work and recreation in community centers and schools; homemaker services; counseling; and court mediation and conciliation programs. The agency’s budget in 2003 was approximately $75 million, financed almost equally from public and private funds. In 1992, after several years of planning and negotiation, CAS opened its first community school in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. If you visit Intermediate School (IS) 218 or one of the many other community schools in New York City and around the country, it may seem very contemporary, like a “school of the future.” Indeed, we at CAS feel that these schools are one of our most important efforts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Yet community schools trace their roots back nearly 150 years, as previous generations tried to find ways to respond to children’s and families’ needs. CAS’s own commitment to public education is not new. When the organization was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Charles Loring Brace, he sought not only to find shelter for homeless street children but to teach practical skills such as cobbling and hand-sewing while also creating free reading rooms for the enlightenment of young minds. Brace was actively involved in the campaign to abolish child labor, and he helped establish the nation’s first compulsory education laws. He and his successors ultimately created New York City’s first vocational schools, the first free kindergartens, and the first medical and dental clinics in public schools (the former to battle the perils of consumption, now known as tuberculosis). Yet this historic commitment to education went only so far. Up until the late 1980s, CAS’s role in the city’s public schools was primarily that of a contracted provider of health, mental health, and dental services.

scholarly journals 685 Sleep Latency, Pre and Peri-COVID-19 Experiences and PTSD Symptoms: Results from the NYU COVID-19 Mental Health Study

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A267-A268
Author(s):  
April Rogers ◽  
Judite Blanc ◽  
Azizi Seixas ◽  
Joao Nunes ◽  
Georges Casimir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Sleep Onset Latency ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Mental Health Study

Abstract Introduction An effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the decision to subject individuals residing in New York City to quarantine rules in order to reduce the spread of the virus. As might have been expected, restriction of usual daily activities would affect individuals’ sleep-wake patterns. It is also known that exposure to traumatic experiences can also engender sleep disturbances, most notably in their ability to initiate sleep. This study investigated the associations between sleep onset latency (SOL), pre and peri-COVID-19 exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among New Yorkers. Methods 541 individuals (female = 373(69%); mean age=40.9) were recruited during the summer and fall of 2020 in New York City to participate in the NYU-COVID-19 Mental Health Study. Participants provided sociodemographic data and were also asked to respond to the COVID-19 quarantine experiences, comprised of seven binary questions, the PTSD Checklist-PCL-5, and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. Descriptive and linear regression analysis were performed to explore associations of scores on the COVID-19 quarantine experience with PTSD and sleep data. All analyses were performed using SPSS 25.0 Results Regression analyses revealed that SOL emerged as the strongest independent predictor of PTSD symptoms [B(t) = −.630(12.7); p < .001]; factors adjusted in the model included pre and peri-covid-19 factors such as age, sex, job type, and quarantine experience. Analyses assessing potential interaction effect revealed that quarantine experience did not affect the relationship between SOL and PTSD [B(t) = .086(.831); p = >.005]. The other sleep factors in the model did not yield significance. sleep duration had a weak correlation with quarantine, it was not found to be a predictor of PTSD. Conclusion We observed that SOL was the most important determinant of PTSD symptoms among individuals exposed to COVID-19. This is consistent with other findings suggesting that a sizable proportion of individuals exposed to pandemics are likely to experience sleep disturbances. It is plausible that quarantine might lead to increased daytime naps, which may impact SOL. Further research is needed to better understand the association of SOL and PTSD as a result of Covid-19. Support (if any) K07AG052685, R01MD007716, R01HL142066, T32HL129953, K01HL135452, R01HL152453

scholarly journals Disparities in Mental Health Referral and Diagnosis in the New York City Jail Mental Health Service

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (9) ◽  
pp. 1911-1916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatos Kaba ◽  
Angela Solimo ◽  
Jasmine Graves ◽  
Sarah Glowa-Kollisch ◽  
Allison Vise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
York City ◽  
Mental Health Referral
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