"Just the Type with whom I Like to Work": Two Correspondence Field Experiments in an Online Mental Health Care Market. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kugelmass, Heather
• Is Part Of: Society and mental health. Volume 9:Number 3(2019:Nov.)
• Page Start: 350
• Page End: 365
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: discrimination -- race/ethnicity -- psychotherapy -- mental health care -- social class; Social psychiatry -- Periodicals; Community Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Mental illness -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mental health -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mental health services -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 362.205
• DOI: 10.1177/2156869318755213
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2156-8693

Abstract

Two field experiments investigated discrimination in an online mental health care market. The subjects were 908 mental health care providers (MHPs) who advertise for clients on a website through which help-seekers email providers. Both studies measured MHPs' receptiveness to an ostensibly black or white help-seeker requesting an appointment. In the first study, no racial or gender disparities were observed. However, help-seekers in the second study, who signaled lower education than those in the first, were confronted with significantly lower accessibility overall. Moreover, black help-seekers with low education and high social need (i.e., a caseworker) received significantly fewer positive responses than any other group. Although the two studies are not directly comparable, their results suggest a hierarchy of accessibility: MHPs prefer more educated help-seekers over less educated ones and among those less educated prefer black help-seekers with a caseworker the least. These disparities persist after controlling for MHPs' sociodemographic and financial characteristics.