{"title":"Accessing and re-accessing mental health walk-in clinics for children and families.","authors":"Catalina Sarmiento, Graham J Reid","doi":"10.1177/27550834231200617","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Many child and youth mental health (CYMH) agencies across Canada and in Ontario are using mental health walk-in clinics (MHWCs).</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>(1) Explore how MHWCs are used by families (e.g. mean, mode, and median number of visits), and (2) document how often and how soon families returned for a second MHWC visit and identify correlates of time to a second MHWC visit.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Administrative data from two CYMH agencies in Ontario were extracted, including demographics, visit data, and presenting concerns.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this exploratory, descriptive study, analyses of administrative data were conducted to identify patterns and correlates of MHWC use before other agency services, compared to MHWC use exclusively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>About a third of children and families using MHWCs had two or more visits. Child age, guardianship, and disposition at discharge emerged as correlates of time to a second MHWC visit.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>MHWCs can save families' time, and both agencies' time and money by eliminating the need to complete a detailed assessment prior to treatment for cases that would go on to have a single visit within this service.</p>","PeriodicalId":75087,"journal":{"name":"The journal of medicine access","volume":"7 ","pages":"27550834231200617"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10541731/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The journal of medicine access","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27550834231200617","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Many child and youth mental health (CYMH) agencies across Canada and in Ontario are using mental health walk-in clinics (MHWCs).
Objectives: (1) Explore how MHWCs are used by families (e.g. mean, mode, and median number of visits), and (2) document how often and how soon families returned for a second MHWC visit and identify correlates of time to a second MHWC visit.
Design: Administrative data from two CYMH agencies in Ontario were extracted, including demographics, visit data, and presenting concerns.
Methods: In this exploratory, descriptive study, analyses of administrative data were conducted to identify patterns and correlates of MHWC use before other agency services, compared to MHWC use exclusively.
Results: About a third of children and families using MHWCs had two or more visits. Child age, guardianship, and disposition at discharge emerged as correlates of time to a second MHWC visit.
Conclusion: MHWCs can save families' time, and both agencies' time and money by eliminating the need to complete a detailed assessment prior to treatment for cases that would go on to have a single visit within this service.