Apoyando a la juventud [supporting the youth]: Latinx caregivers’ assessment of youth mental health service need and utilization on the Caregiver Support Services Questionnaire

TL;DR

Researchers developed a new questionnaire to assess Latinx caregivers' perceptions of youth mental health service needs and utilization.

Contribution

The study introduces the Caregiver Support Services Questionnaire (CSSQ), a self-administered tool for assessing mental health service needs and utilization in Latinx families.

Findings

The CSSQ demonstrated good internal consistency and construct validity for perceived need and service utilization scales.

Youth emotional and behavioral problems were associated with higher odds of reporting service need and utilization.

Abstract

Established service utilization measures depend on labor- and time-intensive interviews that limit the feasibility of large-scale studies seeking to understand utilization patterns of youth mental health services (MHS) among Latinx families. The present study describes the development of the Caregiver Support Services Questionnaire (CSSQ), a self-administered measure of perceived need for and utilization of common youth MHS. Data from 598 Latinx caregivers of youths ages 6–18 on the CSSQ were examined to (a) determine whether the CSSQ can be represented by cumulative scores and individual indicators and (b) establish the construct validity of the CSSQ. Correlations between CSSQ items had small to moderate effect sizes, suggesting that item responses within each scale were interrelated but provided unique information. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that unidimensional factors for the perceived need and service utilization scales fit the data well and have excellent internal consistency. The severity of youth emotional and behavioral problems was generally associated with increased odds of reporting support service need and utilization on the CSSQ, which provides support for the construct validity of the cumulative scales and individual indicators. Findings support the use of the CSSQ as both cumulative scores and individual items to study support service need and utilization patterns associated with youth mental health problems among Latinx families.

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