Characterising the classes of children and young people with mental health concerns based on reported service contact

TL;DR

This study identifies different groups of children and young people with mental health concerns based on their service contact patterns, revealing gender and ethnic disparities.

Contribution

The novel contribution is the use of latent class analysis to stratify service contact behaviors across educational stages, highlighting disparities.

Findings

Four distinct classes of service contact were identified for each educational stage.

Young people in the Specialist Service class were predominantly white/other compared to other ethnic groups.

Nonmedical services showed stronger contact patterns for 11–16-year-olds compared to community services.

Abstract

Exploring the similarities and differences of mental health‐based service contact behaviours for children and young people (CYP) and associated characteristics will allow for distinct analysis of identified groups, and inform both current support pathways alongside more focussed targeted intervention strategies.

Using data from the Mental Health of CYP in England Survey, 2017, we fitted latent class analysis models to identify classes of CYP based on the type of service contact they received. Analysis was stratified by educational stage (aged 5–10, 11–16 and 17–19 years) owing to different help‐seeking pathways.

For each educational stage, the four‐class model was the best fit. Latent classes for children aged 5–10 years included, No Services, Community Services, Nonmedical Services, Contact all services. Children and young people reported different patterns of class membership by gender and ethnic group. Similar latent classes were identified for YP aged 11–16 years including: No Services, Nonmedical Services, Community Services, and Contact all services, however, stronger patterns of contact were found for nonmedical compared to community services. For those aged 17–19 years, classes included: No Services, Nonmedical Services, Specialised Services and Community and Health Services. Young people in the Specialist Service class had higher probabilities of being white/other compared to Black/Asian/Mixed/Other.

CYP show different patterns of service contact across educational stages, with gender and ethnic disparities. Our findings could inform models of help, and support those designing and commissioning services to refocus and review where funding is best placed.