Inpatient Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS): outcomes of young people with and without intellectual disability.
Teens with intellectual disability improve in regular inpatient psychiatric units just as much as their non-ID peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cox et al. (2015) tracked teens with and without intellectual disability who entered the same child-and-adolescent mental-health inpatient units.
They used a HoNOSCA rating at admission and again at discharge to see who got better.
The teens with ID stayed longer, but everyone was measured the same way.
What they found
Both groups improved a lot on the HoNOSCA score by the time they went home.
Kids with ID needed more days on the unit, yet their gains matched the non-ID group.
General adolescent units helped the ID teens just as well as any special ward.
How this fits with other research
Sperandini et al. (2024) looked at trauma-exposed youth and saw worse anxiety and social problems in the ID group.
That sounds opposite to Cox et al. (2015), but the kids in Veronica’s study all had abuse histories, while R’s teens were a broad inpatient mix.
Howlin et al. (2006) showed that nearly one-fifth of ID admissions could be avoided with stronger community care, reminding us that inpatient gains are good, yet prevention is better.
Schaaf et al. (2015) found anxiety in up to 22 % of youth with ID, so screening for anxiety remains vital even when inpatient care works.
Why it matters
You can place an adolescent with ID in your usual inpatient unit and expect real clinical progress.
Plan for a longer stay, keep anxiety screens active, and push for solid discharge plans so the gains stick.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effectiveness of inpatient care for young people with co-morbid mental illness and intellectual disability (ID). This study aims to compare the demographics and outcome of young people with mental illness with or without ID admitted to psychiatric hospital. A secondary aim is to look into the outcome of those with ID admitted to general mental health young people's units. METHOD: Data were collected on the outcome of young people's admissions to specialist ID and general adolescent mental health units as part of a larger quality improvement project run by the College Centre for Quality Improvement. Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) scores were completed by local clinical staff at admission and discharge on 38 young people with and 113 people without ID from 14 units. RESULTS: Young people with mental disorders significantly improved clinically over the admission whether or not they had ID. There were no differences between the groups in age or use of the Mental Health Act but people admitted with ID were more likely to be male and had longer lengths of stay. Admission to a general adolescent unit was associated with clinical improvement for people with ID. CONCLUSIONS: This study needs replication because of the small sample and incomplete data but it suggests that young people with ID and mental disorders significantly improve clinically when admitted to hospital as do their non-disabled peers.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2015 · doi:10.1111/jir.12148