TY - JOUR
T1 - Barriers and facilitators on the pathway to mental health care among 12-25 year olds
AU - Leijdesdorff, Sophie
AU - Klaassen, Rianne
AU - Wairata, Di-Jon
AU - Rosema, Stefanie
AU - van Amelsvoort, Therese
AU - Popma, Arne
N1 - Funding Information: The project received a grant from the Dutch Health Insurers Innovation Fund (Innovatiefonds Zorgverzekeraars) and the municipalities of Maastricht and Amsterdam. The authors would like to thank the participants, volunteers and staff of @ease, and direct stakeholders and partners, especially those who free up time within their organization or support @ease financially. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Purpose: The mismatch between the number of young people that require mental health care and who actually receive it, questions access to care. This study aims to gain in-depth understanding of barriers and facilitators in the pathway to mental health care among 12 to 25 year olds as experienced by visitors of youth walk-in centres of the Dutch @ease Foundation. Methods: Open interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences and attitudes towards mental health care. Following inductive thematic analysis, barriers and facilitators in participants’ pathways towards care were described. Results: Fifteen participants were included, heterogenic with regard to age, sex and nationality. Three main themes in the process of seeking help were ‘attitudes towards mental health problems and seeking help’, ‘entrance to care’ and ‘in care itself’. A fourth theme consisted of suggestions for improvement. Conclusion: Negative attitudes towards mental health problems make young people to only seek help when problems begin to escalate. The lack of knowledge about mental health problems, treatment options and costs asks for more awareness and clear information. Updates about waiting lists and alternative options, informal settings with walk-in options and personalized care are feasible and crucial improvements to decrease the individual and societal burden.
AB - Purpose: The mismatch between the number of young people that require mental health care and who actually receive it, questions access to care. This study aims to gain in-depth understanding of barriers and facilitators in the pathway to mental health care among 12 to 25 year olds as experienced by visitors of youth walk-in centres of the Dutch @ease Foundation. Methods: Open interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences and attitudes towards mental health care. Following inductive thematic analysis, barriers and facilitators in participants’ pathways towards care were described. Results: Fifteen participants were included, heterogenic with regard to age, sex and nationality. Three main themes in the process of seeking help were ‘attitudes towards mental health problems and seeking help’, ‘entrance to care’ and ‘in care itself’. A fourth theme consisted of suggestions for improvement. Conclusion: Negative attitudes towards mental health problems make young people to only seek help when problems begin to escalate. The lack of knowledge about mental health problems, treatment options and costs asks for more awareness and clear information. Updates about waiting lists and alternative options, informal settings with walk-in options and personalized care are feasible and crucial improvements to decrease the individual and societal burden.
KW - Youth mental health
KW - access to care
KW - adolescence
KW - attitudes towards mental health
KW - early detection and intervention
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113591311&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2021.1963110
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2021.1963110
M3 - Article
C2 - 34448440
SN - 1748-2623
VL - 16
JO - International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being
JF - International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being
IS - 1
M1 - 1963110
ER -