A Portrait of Mental Health Services Utilization and Perceived Barriers to Care in Men and Women Evacuated During the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfires

• Published in: Administration and policy in mental health and mental health services research 2021-11, Vol.48 (6), p.1006-1018
• Main Authors: Binet, Émilie, Ouellet, Marie-Christine, Lebel, Jessica, Békés, Vera, Morin, Charles M., Bergeron, Nicolas, Campbell, Tavis, Ghosh, Sunita, Bouchard, Stéphane, Guay, Stéphane, MacMaster, Frank P., Belleville, Geneviève
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autonomy; Barriers; Clinical Psychology; Disasters; Drugs; Female; Finance; Forest & brush fires; Gender differences; Health Administration; Health care access; Health Informatics; Health Services Accessibility; Health services utilization; Humans; Insomnia; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Men; Mens health; Mental depression; Mental health; Mental health care; Mental Health Services; Original; Original Article; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Pessimism; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychiatry; Public Health; Questionnaires; Self report; Sociodemographics; Stigma; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy; Telephone surveys; Treatment methods; Victims; Wildfires; Women; Womens health
• ISSN: 0894-587X; 1573-3289
• DOI: 10.1007/s10488-021-01114-w

This study examines the influence of gender on mental health services utilization and on perceived barriers to treatment one year after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires. Data was collected through a phone survey from May to July 2017 ( N  = 1510). Participants were English-speaking evacuees aged 18 and older. Mental health services utilization and barriers to mental health care were assessed with the Perceived Need for Care questionnaire. Probable diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and insomnia were assessed with validated self-report questionnaires. Multiple logistic regressions confirmed that gender was a significant predictor of services utilization, after controlling for associated sociodemographic variables and presence of probable diagnoses. Women were respectively 1.50, 1.55 and 1.86 times more likely than men to receive information, medication and psychological help. Self-reliance was the most frequently reported reason for not receiving help, and motivational barriers, such as pessimism and stigma, were reported in a higher proportion than structural barriers, including nonresponse and finance. No significant gender differences were found in the types of perceived barriers to services. Among the Fort McMurray fire evacuees, mental health services utilization was similar to other studies on natural disaster victims, and higher in women than in men. Efforts to increase services utilization in natural disaster victims should focus on motivational barriers and offering treatments fostering people’s autonomy, such as online treatments.