National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States
988, a national mental health emergency hotline number, went live throughout the United States in July 2022. 988 connects callers to the 988 Crisis & Suicide Lifeline, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The transition to the three-digit number aimed to respond to a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Preventive Medicine Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335523000992 |
| _version_ | 1827948428971212800 |
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| author | Samantha Matthews Jonathan H. Cantor Stephanie Brooks Holliday Armenda Bialas Nicole K. Eberhart Joshua Breslau Ryan K. McBain |
| author_facet | Samantha Matthews Jonathan H. Cantor Stephanie Brooks Holliday Armenda Bialas Nicole K. Eberhart Joshua Breslau Ryan K. McBain |
| author_sort | Samantha Matthews |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 988, a national mental health emergency hotline number, went live throughout the United States in July 2022. 988 connects callers to the 988 Crisis & Suicide Lifeline, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The transition to the three-digit number aimed to respond to a growing national mental health crisis and to expand access to crisis care. We examined preparedness throughout the U.S. for the transition to 988. In February and March 2022, we administered a national survey of state, regional, and county behavioral health program directors. Respondents (n = 180) represented jurisdictional coverage of 120 million Americans. We found that communities throughout the U.S. appeared ill-prepared for rollout of 988. Fewer than half of respondents reported their jurisdictions were ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ prepared for 988 in terms of financing (29%), staffing (41%), infrastructure (41%), or service coordination (47%). Counties with higher representation of Hispanic/Latinx individuals were less likely to report being prepared for 988 in terms of staffing (OR: 0.62, 95 %CI: 0.45, 0.86) and infrastructure (OR: 0.68, 95 %CI: 0.48, 0.98). In terms of existing services, sixty percent of respondents reported a shortage of crisis beds and fewer than half reported availability of short-term crisis stabilization programs in their jurisdictions. Our study highlights components of local, regional, and state behavioral health systems in the U.S. that require greater investments to support 988 and mental health crisis care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:54:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b240c79944b74dae87711d647769dd80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2211-3355 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:54:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Preventive Medicine Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-b240c79944b74dae87711d647769dd802023-05-14T04:28:43ZengElsevierPreventive Medicine Reports2211-33552023-06-0133102208National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United StatesSamantha Matthews0Jonathan H. Cantor1Stephanie Brooks Holliday2Armenda Bialas3Nicole K. Eberhart4Joshua Breslau5Ryan K. McBain6RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USARAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USARAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USARAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Avenue Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USARAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USARAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Avenue Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USARAND Corporation, 1200 S. Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202, USA; Corresponding author at: 1200 S. Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202.988, a national mental health emergency hotline number, went live throughout the United States in July 2022. 988 connects callers to the 988 Crisis & Suicide Lifeline, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The transition to the three-digit number aimed to respond to a growing national mental health crisis and to expand access to crisis care. We examined preparedness throughout the U.S. for the transition to 988. In February and March 2022, we administered a national survey of state, regional, and county behavioral health program directors. Respondents (n = 180) represented jurisdictional coverage of 120 million Americans. We found that communities throughout the U.S. appeared ill-prepared for rollout of 988. Fewer than half of respondents reported their jurisdictions were ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ prepared for 988 in terms of financing (29%), staffing (41%), infrastructure (41%), or service coordination (47%). Counties with higher representation of Hispanic/Latinx individuals were less likely to report being prepared for 988 in terms of staffing (OR: 0.62, 95 %CI: 0.45, 0.86) and infrastructure (OR: 0.68, 95 %CI: 0.48, 0.98). In terms of existing services, sixty percent of respondents reported a shortage of crisis beds and fewer than half reported availability of short-term crisis stabilization programs in their jurisdictions. Our study highlights components of local, regional, and state behavioral health systems in the U.S. that require greater investments to support 988 and mental health crisis care.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335523000992988HotlineMental healthBehavioral healthSuicideCrisis care |
| spellingShingle | Samantha Matthews Jonathan H. Cantor Stephanie Brooks Holliday Armenda Bialas Nicole K. Eberhart Joshua Breslau Ryan K. McBain National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States Preventive Medicine Reports 988 Hotline Mental health Behavioral health Suicide Crisis care |
| title | National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States |
| title_full | National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States |
| title_fullStr | National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States |
| title_short | National preparedness for 988—the new mental health emergency hotline in the United States |
| title_sort | national preparedness for 988 the new mental health emergency hotline in the united states |
| topic | 988 Hotline Mental health Behavioral health Suicide Crisis care |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335523000992 |
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