Concerns raised over child mental health

FIFTEEN percent of a sample group of children aged 11-13 in middle-class schools around Dublin fulfilled the criteria for a current mental disorder, a conference will hear today.

Experts from psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing and health research are meeting to discuss youth mental health and the influencing role it has on a young person’s future.

Speaking about her research, which examined rates of psychiatric illness among Irish adolescents, Professor Mary Cannon, a Health Research Board clinician scientist and consultant psychiatrist at Beaumont Hospital, said the research was conducted with 1,131 primary-school students in north and west Dublin and Kildare.

“The children were surveyed using a strengths and difficulties questionnaire This is a simple yet effective screening tool which can reliably indicate children at risk of suffering from a mental health disorder.

“From that, 21.5% were found to have scores indicating risk for psychiatric disorder. We then invited a random sample of these children for full clinical interview and found that 15% fulfilled criteria for a current mental disorder, and 37% had experienced a diagnosable mental disorder at some stage in their lifetime.”

A second project funded by the research board aims to provide policy recommendations to manage the transition from child to adult mental health services. It is the first attempt to fully understand the process involved when young people transfer from child and adolescent mental health services to adult services.

Professor Fiona McNicholas, consultant in child psychiatry and the principal investigator on the project, said the preliminary data suggests there is a lack of formalised transition care arrangements and lack of uniformity around the age of transition, and potentially a need for services to work together.

Young people from University College Cork, the University of Limerick, YouthReach Bantry, YouthReach Knocknaheeny and Crescent Comprehensive took part in focus groups for another study being presented on young people, mental health literacy and in the internet.

Carried out by the Inspire Ireland Foundation, it provides an overview of mental health and the internet, insight into attitudes to mental health among young people.

The Youth Mental Health conference takes place today at the Royal College of Surgeons Dublin and will be opened by Minister of State for Mental Health Kathleen Lynch.