Access to and use of psychiatric services by migrants resettled in Northern Italy

The present study was conducted to describe access to and use of psychiatric services by migrants resettled in a large and well-defined catchment area. The study was conducted in a catchment area of 459,536 inhabitants in Verona, a city located in the Northeast of Italy. Using a psychiatric case register, all native and migrant individuals with a first ever psychiatric contact from 2000 to 2015 were identified. Service use data during the 12 months following first contact were collected. During the study period a total of 2610 migrants and 28,860 natives had at least one psychiatric contact. A progressive rise in the proportion of migrants seeking psychiatric care was observed, from 2.5% in 2000 to more than 14% in 2015. During the 12 months following first contact, the proportion of patients with a single consultation did not differ between resettled migrants and natives. However, migrants were more often marked users or heavy users of psychiatric services. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that younger male individuals with psychotic disorders experienced higher psychiatric services use regardless their native or migrant condition. In a large catchment area with a well-developed community-based system of mental health care a progressive rise in the number of migrants seeking psychiatric care was observed. The pattern of service use during the 12 months after first contact was not related to nationality, suggesting the capacity of community psychiatric services to retain people in care. These findings call for the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate community psychiatric services.