Should clinicians engaged in delivering evidence-based child and adolescent mental healthcare be excited about findings from empirical research?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Should clinicians engaged in delivering evidence-based child and adolescent mental healthcare be excited about findings from empirical research?

AU - Hazell, Philip

AU - Williams, Richard

N1 - Clinicians are curious human beings, and we recognize that, whereas they may be engaged by almost any research, they are most likely to be excited by clinical research findings that change the way in which they look at clinical problems; identify modifiable causative factors; assist in diagnosis, including subtyping; assist in staging disorders; inform prognoses; or inform effective interventions including treatments. As in previous years, the studies referred to in this section summarize the recent literature about a small but important selection from the many topics within mental healthcare for children and young people. Our selected topics, of two broad types, are all of current international prominence. First, are two studies relating to recent advances in understanding the nature of particular disorders, and translating evidence on the most effective interventions for children and young people who have them into lessons for clinical practice. Cairney and colleagues review the advancing area of motor coordination and emotional–behavioural disorders. Mattai et al. present an up-to-date picture of the literature on very-early-onset schizophrenia. Second are studies which illustrate the public health lessons for designing services that can be learned from the literature about the epidemiology of disorders and the social and organizational contexts in which services are best delivered. Thus, our third study presents an overview of the epidemiology of mental disorders in childhood that focuses on research in Asia. The fourth study concerns the capabilities of screening for and otherwise detecting children and young people who have mental disorders when they attend primary care services and, therefore, who is chosen for referral to specialist mental health services. Our fifth study reviews how young people’s specialist care might best be continued when they reach the upper age of the remit of specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Clinicians are curious human beings, and we recognize that, whereas they may be engaged by almost any research, they are most likely to be excited by clinical research findings that change the way in which they look at clinical problems; identify modifiable causative factors; assist in diagnosis, including subtyping; assist in staging disorders; inform prognoses; or inform effective interventions including treatments. As in previous years, the studies referred to in this section summarize the recent literature about a small but important selection from the many topics within mental healthcare for children and young people. Our selected topics, of two broad types, are all of current international prominence. First, are two studies relating to recent advances in understanding the nature of particular disorders, and translating evidence on the most effective interventions for children and young people who have them into lessons for clinical practice. Cairney and colleagues review the advancing area of motor coordination and emotional–behavioural disorders. Mattai et al. present an up-to-date picture of the literature on very-early-onset schizophrenia. Second are studies which illustrate the public health lessons for designing services that can be learned from the literature about the epidemiology of disorders and the social and organizational contexts in which services are best delivered. Thus, our third study presents an overview of the epidemiology of mental disorders in childhood that focuses on research in Asia. The fourth study concerns the capabilities of screening for and otherwise detecting children and young people who have mental disorders when they attend primary care services and, therefore, who is chosen for referral to specialist mental health services. Our fifth study reviews how young people’s specialist care might best be continued when they reach the upper age of the remit of specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

PY - 2010/7/1

Y1 - 2010/7/1

U2 - 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32833b519b

DO - 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32833b519b

M3 - Editorial

C2 - 20495457

SN - 1473-6578

VL - 23

SP - 299

EP - 303

JO - Current Opinion in Psychiatry

JF - Current Opinion in Psychiatry

IS - 4

ER -