| Title | Workforce situation of the Chinese mental health care system: results from a cross-sectional study |
| Authors | Yue, Jing-Li Li, Na Que, Jian-Yu Hu, Si-Fan Xiong, Na-Na Deng, Jia-Hui Ma, Ning Sun, Si-Wei Chi, Rui Shi, Jie Sun, Hong-Qiang |
| Affiliation | Peking Univ, Peking Univ Sixth Hosp, Natl Clin Res Ctr Mental Disorders, Inst Mental Hlth,NHC Key Lab Mental Hlth, Huayuanbei Rd 51, Beijing 100191, Peoples R China Peking Univ, Natl Inst Drug Dependence, Beijing, Peoples R China |
| Keywords | DISORDERS PSYCHOTHERAPY EFFICACY ANXIETY |
| Issue Date | 22-Aug-2022 |
| Publisher | BMC PSYCHIATRY |
| Abstract | Background High-quality mental health services can improve outcomes for people with mental health problems and abate the burden of mental disorders. We sought to identify the challenges the country's mental health system currently faces and the human resource situation related to psychological services and to provide recommendations on how the mental health workforce situation could be addressed in China. Methods This study used a cross-sectional survey design. A web-based questionnaire approach and a convenience sampling method were adopted. It was carried out from September 2020 to January 2021 in China, and we finally included 3824 participants in the analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis of the characteristics of the study sample was performed. The risk factors for competence in psychological counseling/psychotherapy were assessed using multiple linear regression analysis. Results Workforce related to psychotherapy is scarce in China, especially in Western China and community mental health sectors. Psychiatrists (39.1%) and nurses (38.9%) were the main service providers of psychotherapy in psychiatric hospitals, and clinical psychologists (6.9%) and counsellors (5.0%) were seriously scarce in mental health care sectors. A total of 74.2% of respondents had no systematic psychological training, and 68.4 and 69.2% of them had no self-experience and professional supervision, respectively. Compared with clinical psychologists and counselors, psychiatrists and nurses had less training. Systematic psychological training (beta = - 0.88), self-experience (beta = - 0.59) and professional supervision (beta = - 1.26) significantly influenced psychotherapy capacity (P<0.001). Conclusions Sustained effort will be required to provide a high-quality, equitably distributed psychotherapy workforce in China, despite challenges for community mental health sectors and western China being likely to continue for some time. Because mental illness is implicated in so many burgeoning social ills, addressing this shortfall could have wide-ranging benefits. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/650719 |
| DOI | 10.1186/s12888-022-04204-7 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 第六医院 |
