Exploration of the utility of the decision-process model of consumer behavior in the understanding of the decision to purchase outpatient mental health services.
Item
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Title
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Exploration of the utility of the decision-process model of consumer behavior in the understanding of the decision to purchase outpatient mental health services.
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Identifier
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AAI9029948
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identifier
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9029948
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Creator
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Johnson, Edna Beeman.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Irwin Epstein
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Date
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1990
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social Work | Health Sciences, Mental Health
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Abstract
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Changes in client attitudes and societal needs, increasing public and private competition, diminishing financial resources, and the increasing policy-making role of the insurance industry, have resulted in the need to better understand how people enter into, and use, the mental health care system. This study was undertaken to determine whether consumer behavior theory is useful in understanding the decision process people use when deciding how to cope with their emotional problems. The Decision Process Model developed by Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard was used, to see if it has utility in understanding the decision process involved in deciding whether to purchase out-patient mental health services. Sampling was done from the callers to the Intake Department of a suburban psychiatric hospital who requested information regarding out-patient treatment. Eighty subjects completed a questionnaire based on the Decision Process Model. An extensive review of the literature on "dropouts" revealed that previous studies of people using mental health services have primarily focused on the contact with a mental health agency as an act, rather than as a process.;The findings of the study indicate that the Decision Process Model is useful in understanding the process involved in deciding whether to contact, and use, outpatient mental health services. The study suggests that the concept of "dropout" is a misnomer, in that people may have left a particular agency, but have not concluded a process. Understanding this process has implications for the content of the initial contact with an outpatient mental health clinic, the structure of the screening interview, and the development of marketing strategies to attract new service users.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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D.S.W.
