SPATIAL FACTORS IN MENTAL-HEALTH CARE IN TASMANIA

First admission rates to the central mental hospital in Tasmania are shown to decline significantly with increasing distance from the institution. This holds true for all standardised subgroups of patients admitted during 1971-1973. The age/sex and marital status characteristics of the patients differ from those of the state population. A higher number of mental patients are separated, divorced or widowed: middle-aged males are particularly over-represented. In contrast to the interpretation that areas distant from the facility are under-served, these Tasmanian analyses suggest that nearby areas over-utilise the services. This, in turn, leads to the conclusion that traditional modes of health care are less efficacious in the amelioration of mental illness than a possible alternative approach stressing community-based preventive therapy. © 1979.