Background Intensive community services may provide an alternative to inpatient care but there is little systematic evidence of their efficacy. This article provides a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting efficacy of intensive community services versus inpatient care in youth. Method Data sources were identified by searching Medline, PsychINFO and EMBASE databases as of December 2014. RCTs comparing intensive community services versus inpatient care in children and adolescents (through age 18) were included. Results Six unique RCTs including 569 youth were identified. The RCTs examined the efficacy of specialist outpatient treatment, multisystemic therapy, day patient treatment, intensive home treatment and supported discharge services versus inpatient care. Using intensive community services was associated with clinical improvements similar to inpatient care in most studies. Where differences in clinical outcomes existed, they tended to favour intensive community treatment. Using intensive community services was associated with shorter hospitalizations, lower costs and greater patient satisfaction. There were no independent replications of the results. Few studies investigated the use of intensive community treatment as an alternative to inpatient care in children and adolescents with severe immediate risk to self and others. Conclusions Intensive community services appear to be a viable alternative to inpatient care. Independent replication of results achieved by specific intensive community treatment models is a research priority.

These findings may inform healthcare systems in prevention and intervention for binge drinking among adolescents (Am J Addict 2016;25:610-619).

This meta-analysis study examined perceived parental differences between Chinese mothers and fathers from the perspective of adolescents. A systematic search for relevant articles published up to 2019 was performed in electronic databases. The random-effect model was used to calculate the weighted and pooled effect size at the 95% confidence interval. This study was based on 43 studies in English peer-reviewed journals involving 55,759 Chinese adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. We conducted subgroup analyses to explore whether differences in study designs (i.e., cross-sectional and longitudinal) and adolescent gender could explain perceived parental differences. The results showed that perceived maternal parenting attributes were more positive than perceived paternal parenting attributes in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Besides, perceived paternal parenting attributes showed slightly greater variability than did maternal parenting attributes. Subgroup analysis based on adolescent gender revealed that only adolescent girls perceived maternal parenting attributes to be more positive than paternal parenting attributes.

Sense of community may be shaped by the quality of the physical environment and has potential health implications. Based on a survey of 2,247 community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults living in Hong Kong, we tested the mediation effect of sense of community on the relationship between the quality of the built environment and physical and mental health using path analysis. The quality of the built environment was indicated by the age-friendliness of outdoor spaces and buildings. No direct association was found between the built environment and health outcomes, although age-friendly outdoor spaces were associated with better mental health. Sense of community mediated 14% of the total effect between outdoor spaces and mental health and 44.8% of the total effect between buildings and physical health, underscoring the importance of accommodating the social needs of middle-aged and older people in urban development in high-density cities.