Childhood unusual experiences in community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South East London: Prevalence and impact

TY - JOUR

T1 - Childhood unusual experiences in community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South East London

T2 - Prevalence and impact

AU - Gin, Kimberley

AU - Banerjea, Partha

AU - Abbott, Chris

AU - Browning, Sophie

AU - Bracegirdle, Karen

AU - Corrigall, Richard

AU - Jolley, Suzanne

PY - 2017/9/2

Y1 - 2017/9/2

N2 - Background: Distressing ‘psychotic-like’ or unusual experiences (UEDs) signify increased mental health risk in the general population, including greater likelihood and severity of co-occurring non-psychotic mental health problems, and, from fourteen years of age, increased risk of a future psychotic illness. Healthcare guidelines for under eighteens recommend psychological intervention for UEDs, to reduce current distress and adverse functional impact, and, potentially, future mental health risk. Children tend not to report UEDs unless directly asked, indicating a need for routine screening. We report on the feasibility of a routine screening methodology, and screening outcomes, in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in South East London, United Kingdom. Method: Four general community CAMHS teams were invited to screen, by adding a nine-item self-report UED measure to their routine assessment battery. Screening data were collected over 18 months from 02/2015 to 07/2016. Results: All but one team agreed to screen. Each team saw around 300 accepted referrals during the audit period (total: 900); 768 of these (85%) were successfully screened; of those screened, 68% (n = 524) self-reported UEs, 60% (n = 461) with associated distress/adverse functional impact. Screening was acceptable to clinicians, children and families. Conclusions: Assessing UEDs routinely in CAMHS is feasible, and suggests that around two thirds of assessed referrals could potentially benefit from interventions targeting UEDs. Additional training may be required for the CAMHS workforce to address this need.

AB - Background: Distressing ‘psychotic-like’ or unusual experiences (UEDs) signify increased mental health risk in the general population, including greater likelihood and severity of co-occurring non-psychotic mental health problems, and, from fourteen years of age, increased risk of a future psychotic illness. Healthcare guidelines for under eighteens recommend psychological intervention for UEDs, to reduce current distress and adverse functional impact, and, potentially, future mental health risk. Children tend not to report UEDs unless directly asked, indicating a need for routine screening. We report on the feasibility of a routine screening methodology, and screening outcomes, in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in South East London, United Kingdom. Method: Four general community CAMHS teams were invited to screen, by adding a nine-item self-report UED measure to their routine assessment battery. Screening data were collected over 18 months from 02/2015 to 07/2016. Results: All but one team agreed to screen. Each team saw around 300 accepted referrals during the audit period (total: 900); 768 of these (85%) were successfully screened; of those screened, 68% (n = 524) self-reported UEs, 60% (n = 461) with associated distress/adverse functional impact. Screening was acceptable to clinicians, children and families. Conclusions: Assessing UEDs routinely in CAMHS is feasible, and suggests that around two thirds of assessed referrals could potentially benefit from interventions targeting UEDs. Additional training may be required for the CAMHS workforce to address this need.

KW - Psychotic-like experiences, PLEs

KW - Screening

KW - Emotional symptoms

KW - Childhood psychopathology

KW - Paediatric

U2 - 10.1016/j.schres.2017.08.046

DO - 10.1016/j.schres.2017.08.046

M3 - Article

SN - 0920-9964

JO - Schizophrenia Research

JF - Schizophrenia Research

ER -