Mental health service diversity and work disability: associations of mental health service system characteristics and mood disorder disability pensioning in Finland

Purpose Public mental health services (MHS) are crucial in preventing psychiatric disability pensions (DP). We studied the associations between mood disorder DP risk and the characteristics of Finnish municipalities’ MHS provision using the ESMS-R mapping tool and Finnish population registers, based on first-time granted mood disorder DPs between 2010 and 2015. Methods The final data set included 13,783 first-time mood disorder DP recipients and 1088 mental health service units in 104 municipalities. We focused on five different MHS types: all MHS, outpatient care provision, local services without and with gatekeeping, and centralized services. Three factors for each MHS type were studied: service resources, richness, and diversity index. Negative binomial regression models were used in the analysis. Results In all the municipalities, higher service richness and diversity regarding all MHS, outpatient care and local services with gatekeeping were associated with a lower DP risk. In urban municipalities, service richness was mainly associated with lower DP risk, and in semi-urban municipalities service diversity and resources were primarily associated with lower DP risk in outpatient care and local services with gatekeeping. In rural municipalities, DP risk indicated no association with MHS factors. Conclusion The organization and structure of MHS play a role in psychiatric disability pensioning. MHS richness and diversity are associated with lower mood disorder DP in specific societal contexts indicating their role as quality indicators for regional MHS. The diversity of service provision should be accounted for in MHS planning to offer services matching population needs.