Abstract
BACKGROUND: In 2019, nearly one billion individuals worldwide were estimated to be living with some form of mental illness. This staggering figure underscores not only the widespread prevalence of mental health issues but also their significant negative impact. Despite the critical impact of mental health problems, there is a substantial gap in treatment at the global scale. Particularly in rural Ethiopia, there is a notable lack of data regarding the use of mental health services by community residents. This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the utilization of mental health services and identifying factors that influence access to these services among the population of rural southern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected adults in southern Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire assessing the sociodemographic status of the participants was used. Depression and anxiety were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorders Scale (GAD-7), respectively. The data were then analyzed using StataMP version 18. Statistical tests such as frequency, percentage, mean, bivariate logistic regression, and multivariate analysis were performed. P values and confidence intervals were used to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 971 participants were enrolled in this study, and the mean age was 34.9 (± 11) years. A minority of the participants (152 [15.5%]) sought some form of help for mental health-related reasons. Only 24 (2.5%) of the participants used biomedical mental health services. The perceived need for any mental health service was 96 (9.9%). Thirty-three percent of the respondents with mild to moderate depression and 37.1% of those with severe depression sought care for their concerns. Similarly, 37% and 35% of individuals with mild to moderate anxiety and severe anxiety, respectively, utilized mental health services. A higher monthly income, psychoactive substance use, perceived need, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were significantly associated with mental health service utilization. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed a significantly low level of utilization of mental health services among the residents of rural southern Ethiopia. More efforts to address the treatment gap for mental health problems in the country are needed.