Retention of Hispanics in public sector mental health services.

Hispanic underutilization of mental health facilities extends to lowered retention rates among the chronically mentally ill. A theoretical model of retention was developed with four domains of variables: personal traits, accessibility of social support, treatment characteristics, and facility characteristics. Using data collected from CMHC clinical charts in 1983 and 1984, the model was tested using multiple regression and commonality analysis. The model was tenable (R = .59). However, the commonality analysis suggested that most of the unique variance was contributed by the treatment domain. The social support domain made negligible unique contribution. Implications of the model are discussed.