Pre-Intake Attrition or Non-Attendance of Intake Appointments at an Ethnic-Specific Mental Health Program for Asian American Children and Adolescents

This study examines the relationship of client demographic, clinical, client-therapist match, and service program factors to the rate of pre-intake attrition or the non-attendance of intake appointments for 236 Asian American children and adolescents (18 years and younger) at an Asian-oriented ethnic-specific mental health program. The results showed that urgency status or the need for the earliest intake appointment, ethnic match with the prescreening interviewer, and the assignment of the prescreening interviewer as the intake therapist were significantly related to attendance of intake appointments for Asian American children and adolescents. In contrast, older age was found to reduce the likelihood of intake attendance for Asian American youth clients. Specific implications of these results to program evaluation and service improvements in mental health care delivery to Asian American youth groups will be discussed.