Objective: To examine the association between usual place of primary care and mental health consultation among those with self-reported mood or anxiety disorders. We also describe access to mental health services among people who are recent immigrants, longer-term immigrants, and nonimmigrants and determine whether the association with place of primary care differs by immigration group.

Methods: We used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2015 to 2016) to identify a representative sample of individuals with self-reported mood or anxiety disorders. We used logistic regression, with models stratified by immigration group (recent, longer-term, nonimmigrant), to examine the association between usual place of primary care and receiving a mental health consultation in the previous 12 months.

Results: Higher percentages of recent and longer-term immigrants see a doctor in solo practice, and a higher percentage of recent immigrants use walk-in clinics as a usual place of care. Compared with people whose usual place of care was a community health center or interdisciplinary team, adjusted odds of a mental health consultation were significantly lower for people whose usual place of care was a solo practice doctor's office (AOR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.82), a walk-in clinic (AOR = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.66 to 0.85), outpatient clinic/other place (AOR = 0.72 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.88), and lowest among people reporting no usual place other than the emergency room (AOR = 0.59; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.67). Differences in access to mental health consultations by usual place of primary care were greatest among immigrants, especially recent immigrants.

Conclusions: People with mood or anxiety disorders who have access to team-based primary care are more likely to report mental health consultations, and this is especially true for immigrants. Expanded access to team-based primary health care may help reduce barriers to mental health services, especially among immigrants.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8138741PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0706743720952234DOI Listing

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