Effective elements of the diagnostic assessment process in youth care. A scoping review

Abstract

Background

In youth care, diagnostic assessment of high quality is crucial for intervention planning, may increase the likelihood that interventions will be effective and can have therapeutic effects in itself. Therefore, it is important to understand which elements relate to the quality of the diagnostic assessment.

Objective

The objective of this study is to provide an overview of elements that are studied in the context of the diagnostic assessment process in youth care and to identify elements that influence the effectivity of this process.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted to explore the current literature, using the databases ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Google Search and ProQuest.

Results

Approximately 50 elements, that affect the diagnostic assessment process in youth care in a positive or negative sense, were identified in 25 studies, of which only 5 were of moderate to high quality. Elements were studied in the general assessment process or in specific phases of this process. No studies have focused on elements affecting the explanatory analysis (the phase in which factors that influence the behavior are analyzed). Elements are clustered in the themes ‘parents’, ‘preconditions’, ‘care process’, ‘information exchange and collaboration’, and ‘professional’.

Conclusions

Given the limited number of high quality studies, it is desirable to do more research on effective elements of the diagnostic assessment process. Based on the findings we suggest to study the role of alliance and shared decision-making in depth, to research effective elements during the explanatory analysis and to include children as participants.