Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria applied
From: Factors associated with health service utilisation for common mental disorders: a systematic review
Include | Exclude | |
|---|---|---|
Participants | - Population-based studies, in which participants are randomly sampled from a sampling frame that can be reasonably expected to include the majority of the adult population - Studies in which CMD is measured and analyses are restricted to those who “screen positive” for CMD.a | - Any studies including people aged under 18 (unless these are presented separately in analyses) - Studies with exclusion criteria that would rule out a large proportion of the adult population (e.g. over-55 s only, people of a particular minority ethnic group only, women who have recently given birth) - Studies in which participants do not live in community settings (e.g. prisoners, inpatients, residents of elderly care homes) or are defined by their occupation (e.g. doctors, police officers, students) - Studies in which all participants have used health services for mental health reasons - Studies that combine people with CMD and those with other conditions and do not report results separately in analyses - Ecological level studies in which CMD is not controlled at the individual level (i.e. it’s not possible to tell whether the people using services are the same individuals who have CMD) - Studies that apply overly restrictive exclusion criteria for participants, e.g. focussed solely on individuals with a specific comorbid condition, or restricted to only specific ethnic groups |
Design | - Observational - Quantitative or qualitative comparison of treatment-seekers and non-treatment-seekers - Cross-sectional or longitudinal - Articles published in peer-reviewed journals only | - Reviews/commentaries/opinion pieces - Conference abstracts/dissertations/book chapters - Case studies that lack quantitative evaluation |
Outcomes | - Studies reporting on the use/non-use (as a binary variable) of formal, face-to-face health services (either specialist or non-specialist, public or private) for mental health reasons - Timeframe in which service use is measured must be clearly defined (e.g. past 12 months) | - Studies reporting on general health care use (i.e. including for reasons other than mental health problems) - Studies examining use of only one specific treatment type (e.g. antidepressant use only, counselling only) - Studies reporting on volume of treatment (i.e. number of visits to a treatment provider), adherence to treatment or quality of treatment - Studies reporting on rates of detection or referral - Studies reporting on theoretical access rather than actual use (e.g. insurance coverage, being registered with a clinic) - Studies reporting on the use of online or telephone-based services - Studies examining the use of informal care (e.g. friends/family/religious support) or complementary/alternative treatments (i.e. those provided outside of the formal health sector) - Studies reporting on willingness or intentions to use services, or recommendations for service use in case of experiencing CMD symptoms, with no measure of actual behaviour - Studies that report participation in screening as the outcome rather than active treatment-seeking or uptake of services post-screening |
Correlates | - Any factors that are correlated with the outcome of interest, including (but not limited to): • demographic factors • health status (e.g. severity/disability/comorbid conditions etc.) • distance/transport to services • insurance coverage • interventions • specific symptoms • behavioural/personality factors • neighbourhood characteristics • characteristics of the healthcare provider • health systems factors • stigma/attitudes towards services | - Studies reporting on the magnitude of the treatment gap, without any correlates of treatment-seeking - Studies that report predictors of service type (e.g. generalist vs. specialist, pharmacological vs. psychological) rather than any vs. no use - Studies reporting barriers and facilitators to the use of health services, without examining the association between these barriers and actual treatment-seeking behaviour |
Dates | Any year of publication | |
Region | Any country or region |