Youth LGBTQ-Specific Mental Health Services Lacking

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Just over one in four youth-serving U.S. mental health facilities offered lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ)-specific mental health services in 2020, according to a research letter published online June 5 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Kristen R. Choi, Ph.D., R.N., from the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues evaluated the statewide availability of LGBTQ mental health services among youth-serving U.S. mental health facilities in 2020 and time variation in services from 2014 to 2020. The analysis included data from 12,275 facilities participating in the National Mental Health Services Survey.

The researchers found that 28 percent of facilities offered LGBTQ-specific services in 2020, an increase from 25 percent in 2014. Coastal states had higher service availability, which was lower in rural states. Fewer than 10 child-serving facilities with LGBTQ services per 100,000 were found in all states. Higher odds of offering LGBTQ-specific services were seen with for-profit facility status (odds ratio, 1.55) versus nonprofit facilities. Public facility status was associated with lower odds of services (odds ratio, 0.78), while facility accreditation was associated with higher odds of offering LGBTQ-specific services (odds ratio, 1.45).

"Findings suggest a need to expand availability of LGBTQ services for youth in underserved geographic areas and in public mental health care," the authors write.

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