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Who seeks treatment after a traumatic event and who does not? A review of findings on mental health service utilization
Author(s) -
Gavrilovic Jelena Jankovic,
Schützwohl Matthias,
Fazel Mina,
Priebe Stefan
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20068
Subject(s) - mental health , psychopathology , psychology , mental health service , event (particle physics) , clinical psychology , service (business) , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics , economy , economics
This review aimed to identify factors associated with seeking treatment from mental health services after a traumatic event. Databases of literature were searched in a systematic manner and 24 relevant articles were found. Although many of the findings are inconsistent, the most important factors associated with treatment seeking appear to be a higher level of psychopathology, the type and level of the traumatic event, and sociodemographic characteristics, in particular female gender. Even though the evidence is insufficient to guide service development, suggestions for future research are made. The methodological quality of research should be improved to establish whether the inconsistency of findings reflects methodological artefacts or true differences between different samples and contexts.