ERIC Number: ED188071
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1980
Pages: 13
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A Study of Failures of Follow-Through for Initial Mental Health Interviews.
Callister, Sheldon; Berger, Mike
Mental health center administrators are concerned about persons who contact centers but fail to keep initial appointments. Factors within centers that discourage client follow-through must be identified and changed. Telephone surveys were attempted for 50 such individuals from the youth (N=23) and adult (N=27) team logs of the Weber Mental Health Center in Ogden, Utah. The responses (N=41) were tabulated by month of contact, referral source, respondent's presenting problems, demographic data, helpfulness of initial contact, and reasons for failure to follow-through. The typical follow-through failure appeared to be female, between the ages 31 and 40, referred by a family member, and treated well in initial contact. Reasons for failure to follow-through included cost, family objections, waiting period before the appointment, center location, and transportation problems. Results suggest that: (1) intake workers should be well-trained to deal with emotional callers; (2) appointments made by the agency for a third party should be agreed to by that person; (3) clients should be reminded of appointments through telephone call-backs; and (4) callers concerned over costs should be referred to staff responsible for setting fees. (NRB)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A