Objective:
This scoping review sought to locate and describe criteria relating to admission and discharge inpatient mental health care for adolescents aged 11 to 19 years in the literature.
Introduction:
In the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally, it is estimated that one in 10 children and adolescents have a diagnosable mental health problem. Children and adolescents with the highest levels of need are cared for in hospital but there is a high demand for beds and a general lack of agreement regarding the criteria for admission to, and discharge from, such units.
Inclusion criteria:
We considered research studies that focused on criteria for admission to and discharge from inpatient mental healthcare for adolescents aged 11–19 years. We included all quantitative and qualitative research designs and text and opinion papers.
Methods:
We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and ERIC, British Nursing Index, ASSIA, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, OpenGrey, Ethos and websites of professional organizations for English language citations from 2009 to February 2018.
Potentially relevant citations were retrieved in full and their citation details imported into the Joanna Briggs Institute System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information. Full texts of selected citations were assessed in detail against the inclusion criteria by two independent reviewers. Findings were extracted directly into tables accompanied by a narrative summary relating to the review objectives.
Results:
Thirty-five citations were included: quantitative (n-18), qualitative (n = 1) research studies, textual and opinion publications (n = 16). Of the quantitative research studies, 16 used a retrospective cohort design using case note reviews and two were prospective cohort studies. The qualitative study used interviews. The research studies were conducted in nine different countries: USA (n = 7), UK (n = 3), New Zealand (n = 2), Israel (n = 2), Canada (n = 1), Norway (n = 1) Ireland (n = 1) Greece (n = 1), Turkey (n = 1). The 16 textual and opinion publications included: book chapters (n = 3), reviews (n = 3), policy and guidance documents (n = 3), reports (n = 3), service specifications (n = 4). The majority of these were published in the UK (n = 10), with the remainder published in Ireland (n = 2), Australia (n = 1), USA (n = 2) and New Zealand (n = 1). Research was conducted across a wide variety of settings including child and adolescent mental health service inpatient and outpatient units, emergency department and adult psychiatric units. Length of stay, where recorded, ranged from