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oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/2430242026-01-30T12:06:37Zcom_10217_100532com_10217_100000com_10217_100503com_10217_100303col_10217_100538col_10217_100504

Torgerson, Rachel Tamiko Kaya, author Hamilton, Scott, advisor Borrayo, Evelinn, committee member Boyer, William, committee member Pfaffly, Carol J., committee member 2026-01-29T19:37:08Z 2003 https://hdl.handle.net/10217/243024 https://doi.org/10.25675/3.025880 This was an exploratory investigation of the likelihood of compliance by family medicine patients if their Primary Care Physician (PCP) referred them to mental health treatment. Participants were 116 adults who were at the Family Medicine Center (FMC) in Fort Collins, Colorado, for medical appointments. Participants completed a questionnaire which measured demographic information, socioeconomic and health insurance status, relationship with physician and FMC, past mental health treatment, interest in treatment modalities, perceived mental health problems, importance of decision-making factors, likelihood of complying with a mental health referral by their PCP, and reasons they would not comply with such a referral. Objectives were to describe the sample and to explore which variables were related to participants agreeing to comply with therapy referrals. Participants were classified as either "compilers" or "noncompliers" based upon their responses to the four items measuring likelihood of complying with their physician's referral. Five independent variables were significantly related to the compliance dependent variable. Those more likely to comply were those who had attended more than one therapy session in the past, those whose PCP had more strongly urged them to attend therapy in the past, those who believed that they had more serious mental health problems, those who placed more importance in decision-making factors, and those who had been FMC patients longer. A forward stepwise multiple regression analysis with compliance as the dependent variable indicated that perceived mental health problems (49.7% of variance, standardized β=0.71) and number of times the participant had attended therapy in the past (23.9% of variance, standardized β=0.52) predicted compliance, R2=0.736, p<.01. Most participants reported that they would comply with their PCP's referral to therapy. Demographic characteristics were not related to likelihood of complying, nor were income level or having private insurance. Conclusions included the important role of the PCP in linking medical patients with mental health treatment. Recommendations for PCPs are provided. born digital doctoral dissertations English eng Colorado State University. Libraries 2000-2019 Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright. Per the terms of a contractual agreement, all use of this item is limited to the non-commercial use of Colorado State University and its authorized users. psychotherapy mental health clinical psychology Family medicine patients and mental health referrals: implications for primary care physicians Text Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Doctoral Psychology Colorado State University This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). open.access