Clisu, DA;
Layther, I;
Dover, D;
Viner, RM;
Read, T;
Cheesman, D;
Hodges, S;
(2021)
Alternatives to mental health admissions for children and adolescents experiencing mental health crises: A systematic review of the literature.
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
10.1177/13591045211044743.
(In press).
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Abstract
Background: Many children and young people (CYP) presenting with mental health crises are admitted to hospital due to concerns around illness severity and risk. Whilst inpatient admissions have an important role for such children, there are a number of burdens associated with them, and safe avoidance of admissions is favourable. We systematically reviewed the literature for studies of interventions reported as alternatives to a hospital admission in CYP presenting with mental health crises, in any inpatient setting. Methods: Three databases (PsychInfo, PubMed and Web of Science) were searched for peer-reviewed papers in October 2020, with an updated search in May 2021. Results: We identified 19 papers of interventions delivered in the emergency department, the home, outside of home but outside of clinics and in hospital clinics. The quality of most included studies was low, with less than half being randomised controlled trials and only half of these at low risk of bias. The best quality studies and greatest evidence for efficacy came from in-home interventions, in particular multisystemic therapy, which improved psychological outcomes, and though a large number of CYP still ended up being admitted, there appeared to be decreased length of stay. Conclusions: Overall, we could not recommend a particular intervention as an alternative to inpatient admission; however, our review describes benefits across a range of types of interventions that might be considered in multi-modal treatments. We also provide recommendations for future research, in particular the evaluation of new interventions as they emerge.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Alternatives to mental health admissions for children and adolescents experiencing mental health crises: A systematic review of the literature |
Location: | England |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1177/13591045211044743 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045211044743 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Child, adolescent, crisis, inpatient admissions, mental health |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10140019 |
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