TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking data on women in public family law court proceedings concerning their children to mental health service records in South London
AU - Pearson, Rachel
AU - Jewell, Amelia
AU - Wijlaar, Linda
AU - Bedstone, S
AU - Finch, Emily
AU - Broadhurst, K
AU - Downs, Johnny
AU - Gilbert, Ruth
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Nuffield Foundation [grant number KID/42838 to KB, EF, LW, RG, RP and SB]. Funding enabled but did not commission this study from; the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre; the NIHR Children and Families Policy Research Unit [to LW and RG]; the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre [to AJ], and Health Data Research UK [to RG].
Publisher Copyright:
August 2020 © The Authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/2/24
Y1 - 2021/2/24
N2 - Introduction Maternal mental health problems and substance misuse are key risk factors for child neglect or abuse and court-mandated placement into care. Linkage between mental health records and family court data could raise awareness about parent mental health needs and inform approaches to address them. Objectives To evaluate data linkage between administrative family court data and electronic mental health records for a population-based mental health service for 1.3 million people in South London. Methods We deterministically linked administrative family court data for women (n=5463) involved in care proceedings in South London with service user records from the South London and Maudsley NHS Mental Health Trust (SLaM). We restricted the cohort to women involved in proceedings between 2007 and 2019, in local authorities where SLaM solely provides secondary/tertiary mental health services and the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) (n=3226). We analysed the associations between match status and sociodemographic/case characteristics using multivariable logistic regression. Results Two-thirds (2317/3226; 66%) of women linked to a SLaM service user record at some point; most (91%) who linked accessed secondary/tertiary mental health services, indicating serious mental illness. Accounting for possible missed matches, we estimated that 70-83% of women accessed SLaM services at some point. Older women at index proceedings (>35yrs OR: 0.69, 95%CI: 0.54-0.88vs <25yrs) and Black women or women from other ethnic groups (Black ethnic groups 0.65, 0.50-0.83; other ethnicity 0.59, 0.43-0.81 vs White ethnic groups) had lower odds of linking. Odds of linking were higher for women with an infant in proceedings (1.42, 1.18-1.71), or with curtailed/terminated parental responsibility (1.44, 1.20-1.73). Conclusion Our linkage supports growing evidence of a high burden of mental health problems and substance misuse among women whose children enter care in England, compared to the general population. Research using this linkage should inform strategies to address the considerable mental health needs of vulnerable women and their children.
AB - Introduction Maternal mental health problems and substance misuse are key risk factors for child neglect or abuse and court-mandated placement into care. Linkage between mental health records and family court data could raise awareness about parent mental health needs and inform approaches to address them. Objectives To evaluate data linkage between administrative family court data and electronic mental health records for a population-based mental health service for 1.3 million people in South London. Methods We deterministically linked administrative family court data for women (n=5463) involved in care proceedings in South London with service user records from the South London and Maudsley NHS Mental Health Trust (SLaM). We restricted the cohort to women involved in proceedings between 2007 and 2019, in local authorities where SLaM solely provides secondary/tertiary mental health services and the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) (n=3226). We analysed the associations between match status and sociodemographic/case characteristics using multivariable logistic regression. Results Two-thirds (2317/3226; 66%) of women linked to a SLaM service user record at some point; most (91%) who linked accessed secondary/tertiary mental health services, indicating serious mental illness. Accounting for possible missed matches, we estimated that 70-83% of women accessed SLaM services at some point. Older women at index proceedings (>35yrs OR: 0.69, 95%CI: 0.54-0.88vs <25yrs) and Black women or women from other ethnic groups (Black ethnic groups 0.65, 0.50-0.83; other ethnicity 0.59, 0.43-0.81 vs White ethnic groups) had lower odds of linking. Odds of linking were higher for women with an infant in proceedings (1.42, 1.18-1.71), or with curtailed/terminated parental responsibility (1.44, 1.20-1.73). Conclusion Our linkage supports growing evidence of a high burden of mental health problems and substance misuse among women whose children enter care in England, compared to the general population. Research using this linkage should inform strategies to address the considerable mental health needs of vulnerable women and their children.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103561909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.23889/IJPDS.V6I1.1385
DO - 10.23889/IJPDS.V6I1.1385
M3 - Article
SN - 2399-4908
VL - 6
JO - The International Journal of Population Data Science
JF - The International Journal of Population Data Science
IS - 1
M1 - 06
ER -