Mapping Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Europe: A 28-Country Survey
Poster C26, Saturday, October 22, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Giovanni de Girolamo1, Giulia Signorini1, James Griffin2, Jane Warwick2, Swaran P. Singh2; 1St. John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy, 2Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
Purpose: Transition-related discontinuity of care between Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) and Adult Mental Health (AMHS) Services is a major socioeconomic and societal challenge for the EU. In the framework of the MILESTONE project this survey aims to map current services and transitional policies across Europe, highlighting current gaps and the need for innovation in care provision. Methods: An on-line mapping survey has been conducted across all 28 European Countries through the administration of two ad-hoc instruments: The Standardized Assessment Tool for Mental Health Transition (SATMEHT) and the European CAMHS Mapping Questionnaire (ECM-Q). The survey systematically collected data about CAMHS organization and characteristics, with a specific focus on actual national transition policies and practice. For each EU Country an identified key respondent was responsible for survey completion. Results: The survey was conducted between October 2014 and March 2015. Response rate was 100%. There is a marked variability in the number of CAMHS and in the number of acute specialized beds per 100,000 young population in the 28 European countries. A percentage generally ranging from 1 up to 3% of the young population (<18 years of age) has been in contact with CAMHS in the last year. Despite up to 49% of CAMHS service users need to continue with specialist AMHS care, written policies for managing the interface between these two services are available only in 4/28 countries and transition support services are reported as missing by half of the respondents. Lack of connection between CAMHS and AMHS appears as the major (82%) difficulty experienced by young service users. Conclusions: A marked variability emerges in characteristics of services and in data activity among the 28 European countries. Many countries miss important information at national level about CAMHS and their functioning, warning for an improvement in data collection and service planning and delivery.
Topic Area: Service System Development and Reform