TY - JOUR
T1 - Short research article
T2 - COVID-19 and its impact on child and youth mental health service demand in the community and emergency department
AU - Tedja, Amy M.
AU - Shanmugam, Meenakshi S.
AU - Stathis, Stephen
AU - Middeldorp, Christel M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Sharyn Bloomfield, Team leader of the Acute Response Team CHQ, and Dee Pratt, Mental Health Information Manager, for providing the data. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions. The data are only available after data access is approved by the Queensland Health, Health Innovation Investment and Research Office. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Queensland, as part of the Wiley - The University of Queensland agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Child and Adolescent Mental Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
PY - 2023/2/1
Y1 - 2023/2/1
N2 - Background: To explore changes in child and youth mental health service (CYMHS) demand in Brisbane, Australia, following the COVID pandemic. Methods: The number of monthly presentations and referrals to respectively the emergency department (ED) and community CYMHS were compared among 2018, 2019 and 2020. Results: The study shows a marked increase in referrals to ED starting from July and in the community from May 2020. In the population referred to as community teams, the proportions of Indigenous children and those from lower socio-economic areas decreased. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the supply and demand disparity in CYMHS, with the largest effect on the most vulnerable families.
AB - Background: To explore changes in child and youth mental health service (CYMHS) demand in Brisbane, Australia, following the COVID pandemic. Methods: The number of monthly presentations and referrals to respectively the emergency department (ED) and community CYMHS were compared among 2018, 2019 and 2020. Results: The study shows a marked increase in referrals to ED starting from July and in the community from May 2020. In the population referred to as community teams, the proportions of Indigenous children and those from lower socio-economic areas decreased. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the supply and demand disparity in CYMHS, with the largest effect on the most vulnerable families.
KW - Child and adolescent mental health
KW - Covid-19
KW - community mental health services
KW - emergency department presentations
KW - service demand
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85135810864
U2 - 10.1111/camh.12593
DO - 10.1111/camh.12593
M3 - Article
C2 - 35970198
SN - 1475-357X
VL - 28
SP - 167
EP - 171
JO - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
JF - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
IS - 1
ER -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being