[Concept and services provided by a mobile pediatric and adolescent psychiatric service in a rural area]

A mobile child and youth psychiatric service is presented that concerned with the mental health care of a county with a population of 239,000 inhabitants. This kind of service was conceived especially to meet the demands of rural regions which are high, as empirical investigations about administrative and real prevalence have shown. The hypothesis that child and youth psychiatric or other specialized institutions create demands not normally existing, could be refuted. The service proved to be an efficient model for mental health care in rural regions so that it can be looked upon--especially in areas which are not sufficiently provided with child psychiatric institutions--as a fully valid alternative to other kinds of mental health services. Still, there is the problem of financing, which is not yet completely solved. A standardized regulation for the whole Federal Republic is suggested with the participation of the health insurance funds.