Table 2.

Past month service use and unmet need reported by category (N = 309)

Specific service	WHES sample					Comparison service use		Difference in service use
	% who used service (n)	No. of visits			% unable to access (n)	Mean visits for users/	% who used service	Rate of increased use in sample
		Mean	SD	Range
General health
Family doctor/general practitioner	56.3 (174)	1.06	1.33	0–10	11.0 (34)	0.35a		3.8
Walk-in clinic	22.0 (68)	0.42	1.04	0–10			2.6 %a	8.5
Dentist	21.4 (66)	0.31	0.72	0–5	21.0 (65)	0.12a		2.6
Emergency department	13.9 (43)	0.24	0.88	0–10		0.012a		20.0
Public health nurse	6.1 (19)	0.20	1.79	0–30	1.0 (3)	0.036a		5.5
Hospitalizations	5.2 (16)	0.32	2.20	0–30		0.03 nightsb		10.7
Medical specialist	15.5 (48)	0.35	1.07	0–8	8.7 (27)
Total	77.3 (239)
Mental health
Support group	25.2 (78)	1.28	3.80	0–30	6.1 (19)
Psychiatrist	13.6 (42)	0.34	1.86	0–30	8.4 (26)		0.19 %a	71.6
Social worker	11.7 (36)	0.24	0.81	0–6	1.3 (4)		0.04 %a	292
Psychologist	10.0 (31)	0.23	0.96	0–12	11.3 (35)	0.02b		11.5
Addictions counselor	6.5 (20)	0.19	1.03	0–14	1.0 (3)		0.5 %c	13
Total	42.7 (132)
Social services
Food bank	22.3 (69)	0.37	0.86	0–4	4.9 (15)		1.66 %d	13.4
Social assistance worker	33.7 (104)	0.29	0.43	0–1			4.3 %e	7.8
Disability benefits worker	11.3 (35)	0.10	0.30	0–1			6.6 %f	1.7
Social housing	15.2 (47)	0.15	0.36	0–1
Child protection worker	6.8 (21)	0.15	0.81	0–8	1.0 (3)		0.123 %g	56.3
Employment insurance	9.1 (28)	0.08	0.32	0–2			7.28 %h	1.25
Total	59.9 (185)
Violence specific services
Woman abuse helpline	11.0 (34)	0.23	0.83	0–6
Sexual assault/rape crisis centre	3.2 (10)	0.15	1.50	0–25
Domestic violence (DV) advocacy/counseling	33.0 (102)	1.26	2.84	0–20
DV shelter	1.6 (5)	0.26	2.50	0–30
Transition home/2nd stage housing	9.4 (28)	2.46		0–30
Total	40.8 (126)
Legal services
Legal aid	10.7 (33)	0.16	0.55	0–4	4.9 (15)	0.02i		8.0
Police services	13.9 (43)	0.25	0.76	0–5	0.3 (1)		0.46 %j	30.2
Victim services	10.7 (33)	0.21	0.80	0–8	2.3 (7)
Total	27.5 (85)

^aCanadian Community Health Survey (Statistics Canada 2005a)

^bCanadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) 2005

^cCanadian Addiction Survey (Canadian Executive Council on Addictions 2004)

^dHunger Count Survey (Canadian Association of Food Banks 2005)

^eGeneral Social Survey (Statistics Canada 2003)

^fParticipation and Activity Limitation Survey (Statistics Canada 2006b)

^gTrocomé et al. (2005)

^hCANSIM (Statistics Canada 2007)

ⁱLegal Aid Survey (Statistics Canada 2005b)

^jGeneral Social Survey Cycle 23 - Victimization (Statistics Canada 2009)