Psychiatric services : a journal of the American Psychiatric Association
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This analysis examined the impact of permanent supportive housing on the use of acute care public health services by homeless people with mental illness, substance use disorder, and other disabilities. ⋯ Providing permanent supportive housing to homeless people with psychiatric and substance use disorders reduced their use of costly hospital emergency department and inpatient services, which are publicly provided.
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Because Chinese Americans are known to underutilize mental health services, routine screening for depression in primary care clinics has been advocated as a means of identifying Chinese-American patients with depression and initiating appropriate treatment. This analysis evaluated the utility of the nine-item depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression screening and monitoring treatment outcomes among Chinese Americans at a primary health care setting. ⋯ The PHQ-9 can be used to screen for depression as well as guide depression treatment planning among Chinese Americans in primary care. Screening for major depression with the PHQ-9 in primary care settings should be considered for appropriate identification and treatment of depression for Chinese-American patients.