Assessing Need and Planning for a System of Care in a Culturally Diverse Urban Community.

This paper discusses the finding of two studies that assessed the need for children' mental health services in the Mott Haven community of the South Bronx, and investigated the cultural, personal, and service utilization characteristics of Mott Haven children who are recipients of existing mental health services. Results from a one-week period in 1993 found that only 160 children and youth, or 34 percent of the estimated number of children who need mental health services, utilized those services. These findings indicate a large gap between the estimate of need for services and actual use of services. Study 2 used a sample of 143 Mott Haven youth (ages 17 and under) who utilized mental health services during a one-week period in 1993 to analyze cultural and personal characteristics of program participants. African American children had a tendency to receive services outside Mott Haven, while Hispanic children tended to be served inside Mott Haven, and younger children were more likely to visit clinics than older children and youth. These results provide some support for using personal characteristics and cultural measures to better understand patterns of service utilization. (CR)