Women's Use of Multisector Mental Health Services in a Community-Based Perinatal Depression Program (Report‪)‬

Low-income and ethnic minority women have been described as at risk for experiencing depression during and around the time of pregnancy, a finding complicated by low levels of mental health service use within this population. This study retrospectively examined data from a community-based perinatal depression project targeting low-income women in which many barriers to care were removed and a range of services could be elected from social work, specialty mental health, primary care, and peer support. The study focused on 206 women who self-referred to the project after community-based screening. In this sample, the mean age was 25.49 years, with 53% of participants identified as women of color, and 76% had income at or below 185% of the poverty level. The characteristics within this sample most strongly associated with service use varied among sectors of care. Women of color and women with elevated psychosocial risk were significantly more likely to use social work home visiting, whereas current depressive symptom level predicted specialty mental health sector treatment but not other sectors of care. Findings from this study compel future research to consider the complex factors influencing women's use of mental health services among multiple sectors of care. KEY WORDS: community-based research; depression; mental health services; service utilization; women