China’s new child psychiatry training programme

Chinese child psychiatrists have recognised a need to secure training that represents the most advanced ideas in their field. Turning to senior child psychiatrists in the United States, Dr Jianping Lu worked with them to design a training programme for child psychiatrists in Shenzhen, which then expanded to become a national model. This article details the reasons for the programme, its origins and history, and the outline of the current programme that now reaches child psychiatrists throughout China.

The Delivery of Diagnosis by Child Psychiatrists: Process Characteristics and Correlates of Distress

We describe the attitudes of child psychiatrists toward diagnosis delivery (DD) and explore potential stressful factors associated with the process. Eighty Israeli child psychiatrists completed a questionnaire on their perceptions of DD of schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We also conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 12 child psychiatrists who were asked to share their personal experience with DD. The questionnaire responses revealed that child psychiatrists perceived schizophrenia and ADHD as the most and least severe disorders, respectively, and its treatment as being ineffective and effective, respectively. They expressed negative perceptions toward DD of schizophrenia and positive perceptions toward DD of ADHD. The results of linear regressions revealed that some factors predicted distress accompanying DD in all three diagnoses, such as lack of professional experience, negative perceptions of DD, and the effect of parents' attitudes of opposition to the diagnosis. The interviews revealed that DD was often described by psychiatrists as an emotional experience and that the psychiatrists' age, and whether the psychiatrists identified more with the child or the parent, affected their attitude toward DD. Lastly, the psychiatrists expressed feelings of loneliness in the procedure of DD and their wish to share and reflect on their experiences with others. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of the clinically important topic of DD in child psychiatry that has not been adequately addressed and help deal with psychiatrists' challenges in this task.

Diagnosis despite clinical ambiguity: physicians’ perspectives on the rise in Autism Spectrum disorder incidence

Background To provide insight on physicians’ perspectives concerning recent changes in the incidence and diagnostic process of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to other mental and neurodevelopmental disorders. Method A questionnaire was sent to 191 specialists in child neurology and child development, and 200 child psychiatrists in Israel. Information was collected on professional background, as well as on physicians’ opinions concerning the accuracy and rate of ASD diagnosis compared to that of cerebral palsy (CP), mental illness, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For each closed-ended question, a global chi-square test for categorical variables was performed. Results 115 (60.2%) of specialists in child neurology and development, and 59 (29.5%) of child psychiatrists responded. Most physicians (67.2%) indicated that there was a moderate/significant increase in the incidence of ASD, which was higher than similar responses provided for CP (2.9%, p < 0.01) and mental illnesses (14.4%, p < 0.01), and similar to responses provided for ADHD (70.1%, p = 0.56). 52.8% of physicians believed that in more than 10% of clinical assessments, an ASD diagnosis was given despite an inconclusive evaluation (CP: 8.6%, p < 0.01; mental illnesses: 25.8%, p = 0.03; ADHD: 68.4%, p = 0.03). Conclusion The clinicians perceive both ASD and ADHD as over-diagnosed disorders. The shared symptomology between ASD and other disorders, coupled with heightened awareness and public de-stigmatization of ASD and with the availability of ASD-specific services that are not accessible to children diagnosed with other conditions, might lead clinicians to over-diagnose ASD. It is advisable to adopt an approach in which eligibility for treatments is conditional on function, rather than solely on a diagnosis. The medical community should strive for accurate diagnoses and a continuous review of diagnostic criteria.

A mixed methods study of clinician reported challenges in the assessment of ADHD and treatment decisions for children with ADHD in Brazil

Objective: This ADHD national survey has obtained original data on the assessment and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) reported by Brazilian paediatricians and child psychiatrists; and has compared their practice. Method: The study questionnaire was delivered to 165 neuro/community paediatricians and 272 child and adolescent psychiatrists. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. Results: Paediatricians assess children with a suspected ADHD, but do not feel confident to prescribe methylphenidate alone. Both paediatricians and child psychiatrists consider combined treatment of medication and psychotherapy more effective. Clinicians want to involve other professionals in the medical decisions but experience difficulties accessing specialist services, especially in public practice. Conclusion: This study showed the impact of the public–private mix in the delivery of and access to appropriate assessment and treatment services for children with ADHD in Brazil.

Generosity of state insurance mandates and growth in the workforce for autism spectrum disorder

All 50 US states have enacted mandates requiring insurers to cover autism-related services. We assessed whether and to what extent variation in generosity of state insurance mandates has been associated with rate of growth in the health workforce for children with autism spectrum disorder: including board-certified behavioral analysts, child psychiatrists, and pediatricians. Drawing data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and Area Health Resource Files, we evaluated eight mandate policy features, utilizing a fixed-effect longitudinal regression framework to examine their relationships with workforce growth during a 15-year period (2003–2017) over which 44 states enacted a mandate. Aspects of mandate generosity included ages covered, spending caps, and types of services covered. We found that mandate generosity was closely associated with the magnitude of increase in supply of board-certified behavioral analysts and—to a lesser extent—child psychiatrists. States with the most generous mandates would be expected to have 39% more board-certified behavioral analysts and 17% more child psychiatrists in 2017, compared to states with least generous mandates. We found no association between mandate generosity and supply of pediatricians. Collectively, our results suggest that the degree of generosity afforded by mandates may be as important as the passage of mandate legislation itself for encouraging workforce growth. Lay abstract To improve access to health services for children with autism spectrum disorder, US states have passed laws requiring health insurers to cover autism-related care, commonly known as state insurance mandates. However, the features of mandates differ across states, with some state laws containing very generous provisions and others containing very restrictive provisions such as whether the mandates include children aged above 12 years, whether there is a limit on spending, and whether there are restrictions on the types of services covered. This study examined the relationship between generosity of mandates and growth in the health workforce between 2003 and 2017, a period during which 44 states passed mandates. We found that states that enacted more generous mandates experienced significantly more growth in board-certified behavioral analysts who provide behavioral therapy as well as more growth in child psychiatrists. We did not find differences in the growth of pediatricians, which is a less specialized segment of the workforce. Our findings were consistent across eight different mandate features and suggest that the content of legislation may be as important as whether or not legislation has been passed in terms of encouraging growth in the supply of services for children with autism spectrum disorder.