Cost of Mental Health Care for Victims of Crime in the United States, 1991 (ICPSR 6581)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

Mental health care usage by crime victims is one of the least known aspects of the costs associated with victimization. Although much has been written in the clinical literature on the effects of criminal victimization on the mental health of victims, little empirical analysis has been conducted to assess the magnitude of this problem. Although victims could be surveyed directly, victims are often reluctant to answer questions of this nature and are not well informed about issues such as length of treatment and the underlying cause of mental illness. Therefore, this project was targeted at mental health professionals instead of directly surveying victims. The main focus of the survey was to determine the number of crime victims receiving mental health counseling, by type of crime, and the annual cost of treatment for each type of crime victim. Multiplying these two figures would yield an estimate of the annual financial cost of mental health care for crime victims.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Telephone interviews were conducted by two graduate students, both of whom had psychology and counseling backgrounds. Respondents were given a brief overview of the survey and asked if their practice in 1991 included the treatment of crime victims. If the respondent did treat crime victims, the interviewee was given the option of responding immediately or setting up a convenient time for a future telephone interview. Respondents were instructed that they were only to count clients whose primary reason for being treated was because they were previously crime victims, regardless of whether the criminal victimization was the presenting issue at the time the client was first treated. Interviews lasted between 15 and 40 minutes, with most requiring at least 20 minutes. Interviews were structured to first elicit information about the number of victims served for each type of crime. Respondents were then asked details about the type and length of treatment for the crime type most frequently encountered by the respondent. Similar information was obtained for each additional crime type mentioned by the respondent in descending order of frequency. For 19 respondents, time ran out for the interview and questions were skipped that pertained to those crime victims least encountered by that respondent. In these instances, an estimate was made for the skipped information based on a combination of the response by that respondent to the other questions and responses given by other respondents in the same cohort to that particular question.

Sample View help for Sample

The survey respondents consisted of a nationally representative sample of 339 mental health professionals, stratified into eight different professional organizations whose members provide clinical mental health care services: the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the American Psychological Association (APsychA), and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Also included were the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), the American Family Therapy Association (AFTA), and the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP). In some cases, a random sample was drawn directly from directories of the organization. In other cases, the organization agreed to provide a random sample of members, names and telephone numbers.

Universe View help for Universe

Mental health professionals in the United States providing counseling to crime victims.

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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Variables include the number of clients served who were adults (aged 18 and over), youths (aged 13-17), and children (age 12 and under)

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

Direct telephone contact was made with 189 out of the 339 potential respondents (55.7 percent). Of the 189 respondents, 20 refused to participate in the survey, and one respondent was later removed from the data because the answers were inconsistent and often unrealistic. Usable data were therefore obtained from 168 mental health professionals, resulting in 49.8 percent of the original sample and 88.9 percent of the respondents who were actually contacted.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

None.

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Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

1996-10-08

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