Non-participation in education, employment, and training among young people accessing youth mental health services: demographic and clinical correlates

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin M. Holloway ◽  
Debra Rickwood ◽  
Imogen C. Rehm ◽  
Denny Meyer ◽  
Scott Griffiths ◽  
...  
BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e035379
Author(s):  
Cathrin Rohleder ◽  
Yun Ju Christine Song ◽  
Jacob J Crouse ◽  
Tracey A Davenport ◽  
Frank Iorfino ◽  
...  

IntroductionMental disorders are a leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. Much of the burden of mental ill-health is mediated by early onset, comorbidities with physical health conditions and chronicity of the illnesses. This study aims to track the early period of mental disorders among young people presenting to Australian mental health services to facilitate more streamlined transdiagnostic processes, highly personalised and measurement-based care, secondary prevention and enhanced long-term outcomes.Methods and analysisRecruitment to this large-scale, multisite, prospective, transdiagnostic, longitudinal clinical cohort study (‘Youth Mental Health Tracker’) will be offered to all young people between the ages of 12 and 30 years presenting to participating services with proficiency in English and no history of intellectual disability. Young people will be tracked over 3 years with standardised assessments at baseline and 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Assessments will include self-report and clinician-administered measures, covering five key domains including: (1) social and occupational function; (2) self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviour; (3) alcohol or other substance misuse; (4) physical health; and (5) illness type, clinical stage and trajectory. Data collection will be facilitated by the use of health information technology. The data will be used to: (1) determine prospectively the course of multidimensional functional outcomes, based on the differential impact of demographics, medication, psychological interventions and other key potentially modifiable moderator variables and (2) map pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical illness trajectories to determine transition rates of young people to more severe illness forms.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Sydney Local Health District (2019/ETH00469). All data will be non-identifiable, and research findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and scientific conference presentations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Iorfino ◽  
Sarah E. Piper ◽  
Ante Prodan ◽  
Haley M. LaMonica ◽  
Tracey A. Davenport ◽  
...  

Enhanced care coordination is essential to improving access to and navigation between youth mental health services. By facilitating better communication and coordination within and between youth mental health services, the goal is to guide young people quickly to the level of care they need and reduce instances of those receiving inappropriate care (too much or too little), or no care at all. Yet, it is often unclear how this goal can be achieved in a scalable way in local regions. We recommend using technology-enabled care coordination to facilitate streamlined transitions for young people across primary, secondary, more specialised or hospital-based care. First, we describe how technology-enabled care coordination could be achieved through two fundamental shifts in current service provisions; a model of care which puts the person at the centre of their care; and a technology infrastructure that facilitates this model. Second, we detail how dynamic simulation modelling can be used to rapidly test the operational features of implementation and the likely impacts of technology-enabled care coordination in a local service environment. Combined with traditional implementation research, dynamic simulation modelling can facilitate the transformation of real-world services. This work demonstrates the benefits of creating a smart health service infrastructure with embedded dynamic simulation modelling to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes through participatory and data driven health service planning.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aileen O’Reilly ◽  
Alanna Donnelly ◽  
Jennifer Rogers ◽  
Olive Maloney ◽  
Gillian O’Brien ◽  
...  

Purpose Measuring parent satisfaction is regarded as essential but there is a paucity of research reporting on parental satisfaction with community youth mental health services. This study aims to examine parent satisfaction with Jigsaw – a primary care youth mental health service. Design/methodology/approach A measure of parent satisfaction was developed and administered to parents in 12 Jigsaw services over a two-year period (n = 510, age range: 28 to 70 years) when young people and parents were ending their engagement with these services. Findings Overall, parents had high levels of satisfaction with Jigsaw and their level of satisfaction did not vary depending on the parent or young person’s age and/or gender. Examination of qualitative feedback revealed three overarching themes relating to growth and change in young people, parents and their families; strengths of the service and; suggestions for future service development. Analysis of the psychometric properties of the measure provided evidence for a two-factor structure examining satisfaction with the intervention and outcomes and service accessibility and facilities. Originality/value This study represents one of the first efforts to measure parent satisfaction with primary care youth mental health services. It has resulted in the development of a brief measure that can be more widely administered to parents engaging with primary care youth mental health services.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magenta B. Simmons ◽  
Alexandra G. Parker ◽  
Sarah E. Hetrick ◽  
Nic Telford ◽  
Alan Bailey ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243467
Author(s):  
Frank Iorfino ◽  
Nicholas Ho ◽  
Joanne S. Carpenter ◽  
Shane P. Cross ◽  
Tracey A. Davenport ◽  
...  

Background A priority for health services is to reduce self-harm in young people. Predicting self-harm is challenging due to their rarity and complexity, however this does not preclude the utility of prediction models to improve decision-making regarding a service response in terms of more detailed assessments and/or intervention. The aim of this study was to predict self-harm within six-months after initial presentation. Method The study included 1962 young people (12–30 years) presenting to youth mental health services in Australia. Six machine learning algorithms were trained and tested with ten repeats of ten-fold cross-validation. The net benefit of these models were evaluated using decision curve analysis. Results Out of 1962 young people, 320 (16%) engaged in self-harm in the six months after first assessment and 1642 (84%) did not. The top 25% of young people as ranked by mean predicted probability accounted for 51.6% - 56.2% of all who engaged in self-harm. By the top 50%, this increased to 82.1%-84.4%. Models demonstrated fair overall prediction (AUROCs; 0.744–0.755) and calibration which indicates that predicted probabilities were close to the true probabilities (brier scores; 0.185–0.196). The net benefit of these models were positive and superior to the ‘treat everyone’ strategy. The strongest predictors were (in ranked order); a history of self-harm, age, social and occupational functioning, sex, bipolar disorder, psychosis-like experiences, treatment with antipsychotics, and a history of suicide ideation. Conclusion Prediction models for self-harm may have utility to identify a large sub population who would benefit from further assessment and targeted (low intensity) interventions. Such models could enhance health service approaches to identify and reduce self-harm, a considerable source of distress, morbidity, ongoing health care utilisation and mortality.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. e034002
Author(s):  
Alexandra G. Parker ◽  
Connie Markulev ◽  
Debra J. Rickwood ◽  
Andrew Mackinnon ◽  
Rosemary Purcell ◽  
...  

IntroductionDepression is highly prevalent and the leading contributor to the burden of disease in young people worldwide, making it an ongoing priority for early intervention. As the current evidence-based interventions of medication and psychological therapy are only modestly effective, there is an urgent need for additional treatment strategies. This paper describes the rationale of the Improving Mood with Physical ACTivity (IMPACT) trial. The primary aim of the IMPACT trial is to determine the effectiveness of a physical activity intervention compared with psychoeducation, in addition to routine clinical care, on depressive symptoms in young people. Additional aims are to evaluate the intervention effects on anxiety and functional outcomes and examine whether changes in physical activity mediate improvements in depressive symptoms.Methods and analysisThe study is being conducted in six youth mental health services across Australia and is using a parallel-group, two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial design, with randomisation occurring at the clinician level. Participants aged between 12 years and 25 years with moderate to severe levels of depression are randomised to receive, in addition to routine clinical care, either: (1) a physical activity behaviour change intervention or (2) psychoeducation about physical activity. The primary outcome will be change in the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, with assessments occurring at baseline, postintervention (end-point) and 6-month follow-up from end-point. Secondary outcome measures will address additional clinical outcomes, functioning and quality of life. IMPACT is to be conducted between May 2014 and December 2019.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained from the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee on 8 June 2014 (HREC 1442228). Trial findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences. Key messages will also be disseminated by the youth mental health services organisation (headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation).Trial registration numberACTRN12614000772640.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
David Heavens ◽  
Joanne Hodgekins ◽  
Rebecca Lower ◽  
Joanne Spauls ◽  
Benjamin Carroll ◽  
...  

Purpose There is an international drive to improve mental health services for young people. This study aims to investigate service user experience of a youth mental health service in Norfolk, UK. In addition to suggesting improvements to this service, recommendations are made for the development of youth mental health services in general. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach was used. Quantitative data from satisfaction questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics and compared between two time points. A semi-structured interview was used to generate qualitative data. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes in the interview transcripts and triangulation was used to synthesise quantitative and qualitative data. Findings Service users appeared satisfied with the service. Significant improvements in satisfaction were found between two time points. Qualitative analysis identified three main themes that were important to service users, including support, information and personhood. Practical implications Recommendations for the development of youth mental health services are provided. Although these are based on findings from the Norfolk youth service, they are likely to apply to other mental health services for young people. Originality/value Mental health care for young people requires significant improvement. The Norfolk youth service is one of the first services of its kind in the UK. The findings from this study might be helpful to consider in the development of youth mental health services across the world.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imogen H Bell ◽  
Andrew Thompson ◽  
Lee Valentine ◽  
Sophie Adams ◽  
Mario Alvarez-Jimenez ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND There is currently an increased appetite and acceptance of technology-enabled mental health care. To adequately harness this opportunity, it is critical that the design and development of digital mental health technologies is informed by the needs and preferences of end-users. Despite young people and clinicians being predominant users of such technologies, little research has examined their perspectives on different digital mental health technologies. OBJECTIVE The current study aimed to (i) understand what technologies young people, both within youth mental health services and the general population, have access to and use in their everyday lives, and what applications of these technologies they were interested in to support their mental health; (ii) explore what technologies youth mental health clinicians currently used within their practice, and what applications of these technologies they were interested in to support their clients’ mental health. METHODS Youth mental health service users (aged 12-25) from both primary and specialist services, young people from the general population (16-25), and youth mental health clinicians, completed an online survey exploring technology ownership and use, and interest levels in using different digital interventions to support their mental health, or that of their clients. RESULTS 588 young people and 73 youth mental health clinicians completed the survey. Smartphone ownership or private access among young people within mental health services and the general population was universal (99%), with high levels of access to computers and social media. Technology use was frequent, with 64% of young people using smartphones several times an hour. Clinicians reported using smartphone apps (84%) and video chat (90%) commonly within clinical practice, and found them to be helpful. Fifty percent of young people used mental health apps, which was significantly less than clinicians (χ2 (3, n = 670) = 28.83, p < .001). Similarly, clinicians were significantly more interested in using technology to support the mental health of their clients than young people were to support their own mental health (H(3) = 55.90, p < .001.), with 100% of clinicians at least slightly interested in technology to support mental health, compared to 89.3% of young people. Follow-up tests revealed no difference in interest between young people from the general population, primary mental health services, and specialist mental health services (all Ps > 0.23). Young people were most interested in online self-help, mobile self-health, and blended therapy. CONCLUSIONS Technology access is pervasive among young people within and outside of youth mental health services, clinicians are already using technology to support clinical care, and there is wide-spread interest in digital mental health technologies amongst these groups of end-users. These findings provide important insights into the perspectives of young people and clinicians on the value of digital mental health interventions for supporting youth mental health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Ann Colleran ◽  
Anne O'Connor ◽  
Michael J. Hogan ◽  
Owen M. Harney ◽  
Hannah Durand ◽  
...  

Background: Despite representing the highest level of total population mental health burden, young people are the least likely to seek help from mental health services. It has been suggested that service design can influence the likelihood that young people will look for help, but little is known about how young people would like a service to be designed. This study addresses a gap in research regarding how mental health services can be designed to facilitate access for young people.                          Methods: A collective intelligence, scenario-based design methodology was used to facilitate stakeholders to identify and prioritise ways to improve youth mental health services. In total, 74 15–17-year-olds from three geographically diverse schools in Ireland worked to identify barriers to help-seeking and to generate and prioritise options in response to barriers. Nine practitioners with experience of working in youth mental health services rated all options in terms of both potential impact on help-seeking and feasibility for service implementation. Results: A total of 326 barriers across 15 themes were generated by youth stakeholders, along with 133 options in response to barriers. Through a process of voting, young people identified 30 options as the most impactful for improving access to mental health services. Of these options, 12 were also rated by practitioners as having both high potential impact and high feasibility. These 12 options focused on four areas: making services more familiar and welcoming; providing specialist mental health input in schools; improving parental understanding; and improving the visibility of appropriate supports. Conclusions: The results of the current study inform mental health service innovation and development, in particular, by highlighting potentially impactful and feasible ways to adapt existing mental health services to improve young people’s help-seeking behaviour.


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