Healthcare services outside of school impact the likelihood of receiving a school-based special education classification and services. Using Massachusetts administrative data on public school students, this paper employs difference-in-differences to examine the impacts of expanded Medicaid coverage for mental and behavioral healthcare brought by…

This manual was designed primarily for use by people with disabilities. The hope is that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read information about available resources, and to provide immediate…

In the United States, health insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder treatments has been historically limited. In response, as of 2015, 40 states and Washington, DC, have passed state autism insurance mandates requiring many health plans in the private insurance market to cover autism diagnostic and treatment services. This study examined…

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was established by the "Children's Health Act of 2000" (Public Law 106-310), reconstituted under the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA;…

This retrospective reviews the policies that affect the fertility of American women, both policies designed to alter fertility intentionally as well as those that change childbearing unintentionally. Becker's seminal work on the economics of fertility serves as the theoretical foundation for this literature. After describing Becker's economic…

This secondary analysis of 5,000 African Americans and black Caribbeans explored how their use of social work services to address mental and substance use disorders was associated with the disorder involved as well as their perceived need for services, belief system, family resources, proximity to services, social-structural factors, and…

Parents of children with long-term emotional or behavioral conditions often struggle to access and afford mental health services for their children. This article examines the parent-reported reasons for unmet mental health needs in children using the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, specifically investigating whether…

Purpose: Rural individuals utilize specialty mental health services (eg, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers) at lower rates than their urban counterparts. This study explores whether cognitive appraisals (ie, individual perceptions of need for services, outcome expectancies, and value of a positive therapeutic outcome) of…

Purpose: To examine rural-urban differences in the use of mental health services (mental health and substance abuse office visits, and mental health prescriptions) and in the out-of-pocket costs paid for these services. Methods: The pooled 2003 and 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys were used to assess differences in mental health service use…

Prior research with incarcerated populations and individuals on parole or probation suggests that significant rates of mental health problems and histories of traumatic events exist among these groups. However, limited research has explored mental health treatment-seeking and barriers to accessing mental health care for individuals on parole or…

The combined effect of race and place of residence on caregivers' perceptions of children's mental health services is underresearched. Differences in caregiver strain, barriers-to-care endorsement, and provider satisfaction are examined among 175 rural and urban African American caregivers from one Southern state whose children received Medicaid…

Objective: Little is known about racial/ethnic differences in the receipt of treatment for major depression in adolescents. This study examined differences in mental health service use in non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic, and Asian adolescents who experienced an episode of major depression. Method: Five years of data (2004-2008) were pooled…

This research is a secondary data analysis of the impact of adolescents' mental/substance-use disorders and dual diagnosis on their utilization of drug treatment and mental health services. By analyzing the same teenagers who participated in the NIMH Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) study, logistic…

This brief presents highlights from rigorous, independent evaluations of the Healthy Kids programs in three California counties: Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. Launched by Children's Health Initiatives (CHIs) in these counties between 2001 and 2003, the three Healthy Kids programs provide children with comprehensive health insurance…

Objective: This longitudinal study followed 5,978 children in out-of-home care to examine whether placement and permanency outcomes differ between children with and without a history of inpatient mental health treatment. Method: Data were drawn from child welfare and Medicaid records from the state of Illinois. Logistic regression and survival…