Is the focus of community-based mental health treatment consistent with adolescent psychiatric diagnoses?

Emma D. Whitmyre, Leah M. Adams, Annamarie B. Defayette, Caitlin A. Williams and Christianne Esposito-Smythers

Children and Youth Services Review, 2019, vol. 103, issue C, 247-254

Abstract: Most adolescents do not receive effective mental health services. This may stem in part from infrequent use of evidence-based and multi-informant diagnostic assessments to guide clinical care. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine whether adolescent mental health diagnoses and suicidality, derived via evidence-based diagnostic interviews and assessments, correspond with reported “reason for treatment” received by adolescents. Secondarily, we examined the potential association between socio-economic status and the match between youth diagnoses and reasons for treatment. The influence of parent-adolescent agreement on diagnoses and reasons for treatment on findings was also explored. Using chi-square analyses, a significant association was found between youth diagnoses of mood disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, and suicidality, respectively, and a focus of treatment on these conditions per combined parent-adolescent report. The same was not true for youth anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity, or substance abuse disorders. Results of exploratory analyses suggest that these results are driven by adolescent, but not parent report. With regard to socio-economic status, there was a trend for those with higher incomes to report a treatment focus consistent with youth diagnoses, per combined parent-adolescent report. Results suggest that focus of mental health treatment received by adolescents in standard community-based care may not uniformly address all current disorders. Efforts are needed to disseminate multi-informant evidence-based assessments to enhance the quality and effectiveness of care.

Keywords: Mental health services; Adolescent mental health; Informant reporting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:103:y:2019:i:c:p:247-254

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.06.010

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