Sorry, I'm Not Accepting New Patients: An Audit Study of Access to Mental Health Care

• In Event: 449 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Paper Session. Coping, Recovery and Mental Health Services

Abstract

Through a phone-based field experiment, I investigated the effect of mental help-seekers’ race, class, and gender on the accessibility of psychotherapists. Three hundred and twenty psychotherapists each received voicemail messages from one black middle class and one white middle class help-seeker, or from one black working class and one white working class help-seeker, requesting an appointment. Middle class help-seekers had appointment offer rates almost three times higher than their working class counterparts. Race differences emerged only among middle class help seekers, with blacks considerably less likely than whites to be offered an appointment. Average appointment offer rates were equivalent across gender, but women were favored over men for appointment offers in their specified preferred time range. The results reveal that invisible discrimination by mental health care practitioners obstructs access to care for already disadvantaged populations.

Author

• Heather Kugelmass, Princeton University