Playing the Admission Game: Young People and Their Parents Negotiating Access or Discharge to Adolescent Inpatient Mental Health Services.
Anna Sydor, Rhiannon Lane, Nicola Evans
PMID 39659108WHAT IT FOUND
Young people and parents described little choice or control over admission, discharge and care in adolescent inpatient mental health services.
They said physical risk and visible distress mattered more than reported emotional distress, and families often felt they had to advocate hard to get care.
Key findings
01Participants described little choice or control over admission, discharge and the care they received.
02Young people and parents said emotional distress was often taken seriously only when physical risk or visible distress was shown.
03Parents often acted as advocates and sought diagnosis to understand and legitimise their child's difficulties.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited from online support groups whose members were largely unhappy with mental health care, so positive experiences were not represented. The study reports 5 parents and 5 young people, and 2 young-person responses were from people who had not been admitted as inpatients. Data were collected in different ways, and written email answers were less comprehensive than interviews. Recall was retrospective, which may have changed how events were remembered. Themes were not checked with participants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these themes as proof that admission or discharge decisions are unfair. The study interviewed 5 parents and 5 young people recruited from online support groups that were largely made up of people who felt negatively about care, and it did not measure admission decisions or patient outcomes.