US Child Mental Health Care Need, Unmet Needs, and Difficulty Accessing Services

US Child Mental Health Care Need, Unmet Needs, and Difficulty Accessing Services, in JAMA Pediatrics

key takeaway: "This nationally representative study showed that, in 1 in 5 US households, parents perceived a mental health treatment need for their children. Among these parents, 24.8% reported an unmet need, 16.6% reported difficulty in accessing care, and 21.8% cited such difficulty as the reason their children did not receive care. This burden was even greater for households with a single parent and multiple children. Schools serve as a pathway to identifying and addressing child mental health conditions. Our finding that 30.9% of households with homeschooled children have an unmet need is concerning."