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The Interim Service Preferences of Parents Waiting for Children’s Mental Health Treatment: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Experiment

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Abstract

Parents seeking help for children with mental health problems are often assigned to a waiting list. We used a discrete choice conjoint experiment to model preferences for interim services that might be used while waiting for the formal assessment and treatment process to begin. A sample of 1,059 parents (92 % mothers) seeking mental health services for 4 to 16 year olds chose between hypothetical interim services composed by experimentally varying combinations of the levels of 13 interim service attributes. Latent Class analysis yielded a four–segment solution. All segments preferred interim options helping them understand how agencies work, enhancing their parenting knowledge and skill, and providing an opportunity to understand or begin dealing with their own difficulties. The Group Contact segment (35.1 %) preferred interim services in meetings with other parents, supported by phone contacts, frequent checkup calls, and wait–time updates. Virtual Contact parents (29.2 %) preferred to meet other parents in small internet chat groups supported by e–mail contact. Membership in this segment was linked to higher education and computer skills. Frequent Contact parents (24.4 %) preferred face–to–face interim services supported by weekly progress checks and wait time updates. Limited Contact parents (11.3 %) were less intent on using interim services. They preferred to pursue interim services alone, with contacts by phone, supported by fewer check–up calls and less frequent wait time updates. All segments were more likely to enroll in interim services involving their child.

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Notes

  1. According to Huber et al. (2007), Randomized First Choice: “. . .begins with a random utility model with variability components on both the coefficients and the residual error:

    $$ {{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{i}}}={{\mathrm{X}}_{\mathrm{i}}}\left( {\beta +{{\mathrm{E}}_{\mathrm{A}}}} \right)+{{\mathrm{E}}_{\mathrm{P}}} $$
    (1)

    Where:

    Ui :

    Utility of product i for an individual or homogeneous segment at a moment in time

    Xi :

    Row vector of attribute scores for alternative i

    β:

    Vector of part worths

    EA :

    Variability added to the part worths (same for all alternatives)

    EP :

    Variability added to product i (unique for each alternative)

    In the simulator, the probability of choosing alternative i in choice set S is the probability that its randomized utility is the greatest in the set, or:

    $$ \Pr \left( {\mathrm{i}\left| \mathrm{S} \right.} \right)=\Pr \left( {{{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{i}}}\geq {{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{j}}}\;\mathrm{all}\;\mathrm{j}\in \mathrm{S}} \right) $$
    (2)

    Equation 2 is estimated by using a simulator to draw Ui from Eq. 1 and simply enumerating the probabilities”. The results of RFC simulations reflect the average of 200,000 iterations of the computational formula.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Behaviours & Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Charles E. Cunningham, Yvonne Chen, Heather Rimas & Ellen Lipman

  2. Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Patrick McGrath & Penny Corkum

  3. Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Patrick McGrath

  4. Department of International Marketing and Health Services Management, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Ken Deal

  5. Departments of Psychology, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics, The University of Western Ontario and the Children’s Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

    Graham Reid

  6. Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L9C 7N4

    Charles E. Cunningham

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  1. Charles E. Cunningham
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  2. Yvonne Chen
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  3. Ken Deal
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  4. Heather Rimas
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  5. Patrick McGrath
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  6. Graham Reid
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  7. Ellen Lipman
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  8. Penny Corkum
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Correspondence to Charles E. Cunningham.

Additional information

This project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Charles Cunningham’s participation was supported by the Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centred Health at McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences. Patrick McGrath was supported by a Canada Research Chair. Graham Reid was supported by the Children’s Health Foundation. The authors acknowledge the research support provided by Stephanie Mielko, Amanda Holding, Sophia Fanourgiakis, Matt Horner, Kayley Brunsdon, and Lauren Mak. David Streiner and Richard McCollough provided helpful statistical consultation.

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Cunningham, C.E., Chen, Y., Deal, K. et al. The Interim Service Preferences of Parents Waiting for Children’s Mental Health Treatment: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Experiment. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41, 865–877 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9728-x

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