Intrinsic and Extrinsic Barriers to Mental Health Care among Older Adults: An Improved Measure and Examination of the Effects of an Educational Intervention

Older adults underutilize mental health services at an alarming rate. The results of 2 studies examining barriers to mental health services among older adults are presented. Study 1 aimed to revise the self-report Barriers to Mental Health Services Scale (BMHSS) which examines 10 possible barriers to mental health service use including transportation, finding a psychotherapist, physician referral, psychotherapists’ qualifications, ageism, help seeking, stigma, and insurance/payment concerns. The revised measure (BMHSS-R) was administered to 499 younger adults and 100 community dwelling older adults. Internal consistency for the 10 subscales ranged between .55 and .85 with 7 of the 10 subscales’ alphas being over .70. Also, the subscales of help seeking and stigma were correlated with existing measures supporting the convergent validity of these scales. The underlying component structure of the BMHSS-R is comprised of 10 unique components. Revisions to the BMHSS resulted in improved reliability and validity. Study 2 aimed to examine the efficacy of a 30 min education intervention targeting barriers to mental health services for older adults. Results of the educational intervention were not significant. The failure to obtain significance with the educational intervention indicates the need for continued exploration of educational efforts and how these are best disseminated to at-risk groups.