A Comparative Study on the Need for Mental Health Service as Perceived by the General Public and Experts in Taipei

[[abstract]]A Comparative Study on the Need for Mental Health Service as Perceived by the General Public and Experts in Taipei Chia-Ling Hsu Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between the perception of the need for mental health service among the general public with difference demographic variables, the experts with difference demographic variables, as well as between the general public and the experts. For the general public, by using stratified cluster sampling method, a total of 379 effective samples were chosen among 20 years old to 60 years old individuals from Taipei; For experts, by using purposive sampling and snowball sampling methods, a total of 222 effective samples were chosen among psychiatrists, nursing staff of psychiatric department, occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, social workers, and school counselors. Data were collected through surveys for this research. The instrument of study was “the need for mental health service and suggestion questionnaire” (partitioned into the general public edition and the experts edition). Data obtained in this study were analyzed by descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test. Main findings of this research were as following: 1. Significant differences were shown between the general public of different social status for the perception of need for mental health service. The general public of high social status has higher averages for nearly every contents of the mental health service. 2. Significant differences were shown between the general public of different marriage status for the perception of need for mental health service. 3. Significant differences were shown between the general public with and without previous usage of mental health service, for the perception of need for mental health service. The general public that has used the mental health service previously has higher averages for nearly every contents of the mental health service. 4. Significant differences were shown between the genders of experts for the perception of need for mental health service. The female experts have higher averages for nearly every contents of the mental health service. 5. Significant differences were shown between experts of different specialty for the perception of need for mental health service. 6. Significant differences were shown between the general public and the experts for the perception of need of mental health service. Experts have higher averages than the general public for nearly every contents of mental health service. Finally, suggestions and implications of the results were discussed to promote community mental health service as well as for future studies. Keywords: Taipei, the general public, Experts, mental health, the need for mental health service