Clergy-Provided Mental Health Services: A Strategy for Addressing Disparities in Scale-up Efforts

Cole Hooley; Yi Wang; David Hodge

doi:10.18060/23975

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Clergy-Provided Mental Health Services: A Strategy for Addressing Disparities in Scale-up Efforts

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Clergy-Provided Mental Health Services: A Strategy for Addressing Disparities in Scale-up Efforts

Cole Hooley, Yi Wang and David Hodge

Advances in social work, Vol.20(3), pp.778-800

10/01/2020

DOI: 10.18060/23975

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Abstract

Most individuals with mental health needs do not receive professional care. One strategy to narrow this service provision gap is task-shifting, a process where certain responsibilities are shifted to less specialized workers. Approximately 25% of those who seek mental health care turn to clergy. This study investigated the suitability of using clergy to scale-up mental health service provision by assessing perceptions of satisfaction and helpfulness with clergy-delivered services. Using data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (2003), we found most respondents (n=204) who went to clergy reported satisfaction with their care (92%) and that the services were helpful (94%). Ordered logit regression revealed that racial/ethnic minorities and individuals for whom religion was more salient were disproportionately likely to find clergy-delivered mental health services satisfying and helpful, while older adults were more likely to report the services were helpful. The results suggest incorporating clergy in mental health scale-up plans via task-shifting may be a viable option, particularly for addressing the mental health needs of underserved racial and ethnic minorities, as well as older adults. Social workers-at least in theory-are well-positioned to collaborate with clergy in the process of implementing task-shifting.

Comorbidity

Health Insurance

Mental Health

Mental Health Services

Older People

Clergy

Ethnicity

Health planning

Health services

Minority & ethnic groups

Minority groups

Satisfaction

Social workers

Details

Title: Subtitle: Clergy-Provided Mental Health Services: A Strategy for Addressing Disparities in Scale-up Efforts
Creators: Cole Hooley - Brigham Young University
Yi Wang - University of Iowa, School of Social Work
David Hodge
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Advances in social work, Vol.20(3), pp.778-800
DOI: 10.18060/23975
ISSN: 1527-8565
eISSN: 2331-4125
Publisher: Indiana University, School of Social Work
Language: English
Date published: 10/01/2020
Academic Unit: School of Social Work
Record Identifier: 9984318050602771

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