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Predictors of Service Use for Mental Health Problems Among British Schoolchildren

2007; Wiley; Volume: 13; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1475-3588.2007.00449.x

1475-3588

Tamsin Ford, Helena Hamilton, Howard Meltzer, Robert Goodman,

Family Caregiving in Mental Illness

Most previous studies of service use in relation to mental health have examined services in the USA. We wanted to provide up-to-date findings from a general population sample of British schoolchildren. A total of 2461 children aged 5-15 from the 1999 British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey were followed up for 3 years. We examine the relationship between a wide variety of potential predictors gathered in 1999 and the use of services over the following 3 years. Contact with most services was predicted by three factors: the impact of psychopathology; contact with teachers or primary health care; and parents' and teachers' perceptions that the child had significant difficulties. Other predictors were specific to each service. Education of parents, teachers and other important adults might increase the proportion of children with impairing psychiatric disorders reaching services.