Apr 24, 2012 - Department of Oncology, Meir Hospital,. Kfar Saba, Israel. I. Levav. Department of Community Mental Health,. Faculty of Social Welfare and ...
Support Care Cancer DOI 10.1007/s00520-012-1485-9
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Ethnic differentials in mental health needs and service utilization among persons with cancer Ora Nakash & Maayan Nagar & Rachel Mandel & Shirly Alon & Maya Gottfried & Itzhak Levav
Received: 1 August 2011 / Accepted: 24 April 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract Purpose Improving the assessment of and access to appropriate care for mental health problems among persons with cancer is essential, particularly for population groups that are at high risk for psychopathology. This study characterized ethnic differentials regarding needs and service utilization by Jewish (n01,430) and Arab-Israeli (n0141) persons with cancer. Methods We reviewed 284 randomly selected active medical charts in an oncology clinic in a large public hospital (November 2010–April 2011). Results While 12 % of the charts of the Jewish-Israeli sample included a record of psychiatric disorders or symptoms, only 5 % of the charts of the Arab-Israeli sample had a similar record (χ²04.4, p
