Self-identified barriers to rural mental health services in Iowa by older adults with multiple comorbidities: qualitative interview study

OBJECTIVES: Individuals in rural areas face critical health disparities, including limited access to mental healthcare services and elevated burden of chronic illnesses. While disease outcomes are often worse in individuals who have both physical and mental comorbidities, few studies have examined rural, chronically-ill older adults’ experiences accessing mental health services. The aim of the study was to determine barriers to finding, receiving and adhering to mental health treatments in this population to inform future interventions delivering services. DESIGN: We conducted a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to mental healthcare access. 19 interviews were analysed deductively for barriers using a modified version of Penchansky and Thomas’s theory of access as an analytical framework. SETTING: This study was conducted remotely using telephonic interviews. Patients were located in various rural Iowa towns and cities. PARTICIPANTS: 15 rural Iowan older adults with multiple physical comorbidities as well as anxiety and/or depression. RESULTS: We found that while patients in this study often felt that their mental health was important to address, they experienced multiple, but overlapping, barriers to services that delayed care or broke their continuity of receiving care, including limited knowledge of extant services and how to find them, difficulties obtaining referrals and unsatisfactory relationships with mental health service providers. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that intervention across multiple domains of access is necessary for successful long-term management of mental health disorders for patients with multiple chronic comorbidities in Iowa.