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Community mental health for children: a shift in emphasis
Canada'S Mental Health
|February 9, 1985
Summary
Traditional children's mental health services need reevaluation. Evidence challenges assumptions about case referral, long-term outcomes, and treatment generalization, suggesting a community mental health model may be more effective.
Area of Science:
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Mental Health Services Research
- Public Health
Background:
- Children's mental health services face significant challenges.
- Traditional service delivery models are based on questionable assumptions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reexamine key assumptions in children's mental health service delivery.
- To explore a paradigm shift towards a community mental health model.
Main Methods:
- Critical analysis of existing assumptions regarding case referral and treatment outcomes.
- Exploration of the community mental health model framework.
Main Results:
- Little empirical support found for assumptions that only severe cases are referred.
- Limited evidence suggests untreated childhood issues consistently lead to adult mental illness.
- Generalizability of treatment effects is not well-supported.
Conclusions:
- The traditional model's foundational assumptions require reevaluation.
- A community mental health approach offers a potential alternative paradigm.
- Factors influencing the adoption of this new model warrant further discussion.