The majority of research on accessing and utilizing mental health services has focused on patient barriers to care. Few studies have explored possible provider biases that may impact client access at point of entry. Using the audit method, we conducted an email-based field experiment to investigate the responsiveness of psychotherapy providers to inquiries from simulated patients with different backgrounds (i.e., race, gender, diagnosis, and ability to pay). A total of 725 therapists (176 men, 549 women) practicing in Chicago, Illinois were identified from an online therapist directory and randomized to receive emails requesting therapy appointments. Overall, 21.7% of providers did not return prospective client email inquiries; 32.5% of providers were somewhat responsive in that they returned an email despite not being able to take on the client; and 45.7% were highly responsive in that they returned an email and offered an appointment or the opportunity to discuss the matter further. Male providers were less responsive to African American and Latinx simulated clients and most responsive to White clients, whereas female providers were more likely to respond similarly to all simulated clients. Moreover, regardless of the providers' gender, they were more responsive to simulated patients with depression than to simulated patients with schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder (BPD). Finally, providers were more responsive to those who could pay the full fee than to those who requested a sliding scale. Educating providers on these possible biases is important because it could help reduce biased behaviors and improve access to care for vulnerable populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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给我发电子邮件：通过电子邮件返回和响应来检查提供商的偏见。

大多数关于获取和利用心理健康服务的研究都集中在患者的护理障碍上。很少有研究探讨可能影响进入点客户访问的可能的提供者偏见。使用审计方法，我们进行了基于电子邮件的现场实验，以调查心理治疗提供者对来自不同背景（即种族、性别、诊断和支付能力）的模拟患者询问的反应。从在线治疗师目录中确定了在伊利诺伊州芝加哥执业的总共 725 名治疗师（176 名男性，549 名女性），并随机接收请求治疗预约的电子邮件。总体而言，21.7% 的提供商没有回复潜在客户的电子邮件查询；32.5% 的供应商有一定反应，尽管他们无法接待客户，但他们还是回复了一封电子邮件；45.7% 的受访者回复率很高，因为他们回复了电子邮件并提供了预约或进一步讨论此事的机会。男性提供者对非裔美国人和拉丁裔模拟客户的反应较差，而对白人客户的反应最大，而女性提供者更有可能对所有模拟客户做出类似的反应。此外，无论提供者的性别如何，他们对模拟的抑郁症患者的反应比模拟的精神分裂症或边缘型人格障碍 (BPD) 患者的反应更大。最后，提供者对那些可以支付全部费用的人比对那些要求滑动比例的人更敏感。就这些可能的偏见对提供者进行教育很重要，因为它可以帮助减少偏见行为并改善弱势群体获得护理的机会。