Browsing by Author "Wahlstedt, Henri"

Objective. Psychotherapy is widely recognized as an effective form of treatment for mental disorders. Therefore, it is important to ensure its availability. In Finland, the demand seems to exceed the supply for psychotherapy, and the burdensome process of searching for a psychotherapist may impede access to care. To ensure the availability of psychotherapy, more detailed information on waiting times and factors that affect them are needed. In this study, waiting times of outsourced short pscyhotherapies in Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District are modelled. Methods. The data was derived from the quality registry for psychotherapy, which is used to gather versatile information on the psychotherapy process. Our sample consists of 819 patients referred to psychotherapy between 12.09.2018-07.10.2019. Most of these patiens are women and come from Greater Helsinki. Since the final waiting time was not known for every patient, survival analysis methods were used. Results and conclusions. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the median waiting time was estimated to be three months. Based on a Cox regression model, the rate of starting a therapy has first accelerated and then slowed down during the study interval. It was also found that psychiatric comorbidity and referral from primary care were associated with longer waiting times, while the other variables were not. This study provides a point of reference for other psychotherapy services, and initial information for development of psychotherapy processes in Helsinki and Uusimaa. That being said, the study interval was quite short and information on waiting times should be updated regularly.