Utilization and Demand of Health Care Service for Children with Mental Disabilities in China / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the utilization and demand of health care services for children with mental disabilities and provide implications for the development and update of related policies. Methods:Data of utilization and demand of health care services for children with mental disabilities aged 0 to 17 years were selected from The Second China National Sample Survey on Disability in 2006. The difference of utilization and demands of health care services for children was analyzed in socio-economic characteristics including gender, age, urban and rural areas, disabled level, parents' highest level of education and family income. Results:The utilization rate of health care service was relatively low (44.35%), and the demands was high (98.26%) among children with mental disabilities. Medical services and assistance, rehabilitation training and services, and aid and support for poor people with disabilities were the most-utilized and most-demanded services for children with mental disabilities. In terms of utilization, the utilization rates of medical services and assistance, and rehabilitation training and services were higher among children with mental disabilities in urban areas than in rural areas (χ2 > 11.028, P < 0.01). And the utilization rate of these two services also was higher among mentally disabled children from family with higher parental education and income than among the counterparts from families with low socioeconomic status (χ2 > 9.169, P < 0.05). In terms of demand, children with more severe mental disability had higher demand of aid and support for poor people with disabilities (χ2 = 17.822, P < 0.001). And higher demand of rehabilitation training and services was found among mentally disabled children with better family socio-economic status (χ2 = 7.797, P < 0.05). Conclusion:The demands for health care services among children with mental disabilities urgently need to be further met. Reinforcing the development of above three types of services, addressing the imbalance of health care services allocation between urban and rural areas, and improving the economic conditions of disabled families will effectively improve the utilization of the health care service for mentally disabled children.