A preschool child psychiatric service: referral patterns and service uptake

A study of referrals to a preschool child psychiatric service found that, although the commonest problem behaviours were similar to those found in community surveys of under-five-year-olds, the levels of child disturbance, maternal mood disorder and atypical family structure were much higher than in the community. It therefore seemed that the service was being used appropriately to seek help for families with multiple, severe and/or persistent problems. A quarter of the sample failed to attend the initial appointment, of whom over a third refused home assessment. There were no clear differences between those attending or failing to attend for assessment, but some suggestion of lower symptom levels in the latter.