Evaluating Singapore’s CHAT Assessment Service by the World Mental Health Organisation (WHO) “Youth-Friendly” Health Services Framework

Lee, Yi Ping; Ngaiman, Nur Khairunisa Binte; Poon, Lye Yin; Jalil, Hanisah Binte Abdul; Yap, Ming; Abdin, Edimansyah; Subramaniam, Mythily; Lee, Helen; Verma, Swapna

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00422

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Established in 2009, and building on the Singapore Early Psychosis Intervention Programme, CHAT is a national youth mental health check and outreach program under the Institute of Mental Health 165 .…”

Section: Singapore: Community Health Assessment Team (Chat)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing and scaling up integrated youth mental health care

et al. 2022

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Mental ill‐health represents the main threat to the health, survival and future potential of young people around the world. There are indications that this is a rising tide of vulnerability and need for care, a trend that has been augmented by the COVID‐19 pandemic. It represents a global public health crisis, which not only demands a deep and sophisticated understanding of possible targets for prevention, but also urgent reform and investment in the provision of developmentally appropriate clinical care. Despite having the greatest level of need, and potential to benefit, adolescents and emerging adults have the worst access to timely and quality mental health care. How is this global crisis to be addressed? Since the start of the century, a range of co‐designed youth mental health strategies and innovations have emerged. These range from digital platforms, through to new models of primary care to new services for potentially severe mental illness, which must be locally adapted according to the availability of resources, workforce, cultural factors and health financing patterns. The fulcrum of this progress is the advent of broad‐spectrum, integrated primary youth mental health care services. They represent a blueprint and beach‐head for an overdue global system reform. While resources will vary across settings, the mental health needs of young people are largely universal, and underpin a set of fundamental principles and design features. These include establishing an accessible, “soft entry” youth primary care platform with digital support, where young people are valued and essential partners in the design, operation, management and evaluation of the service. Global progress achieved to date in implementing integrated youth mental health care has highlighted that these services are being accessed by young people with genuine and substantial mental health needs, that they are benefiting from them, and that both these young people and their families are highly satisfied with the services they receive. However, we are still at base camp and these primary care platforms need to be scaled up across the globe, complemented by prevention, digital platforms and, crucially, more specialized care for complex and persistent conditions, aligned to this transitional age range (from approximately 12 to 25 years). The rising tide of mental ill‐health in young people globally demands that this focus be elevated to a top priority in global health.

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Section: Singapore: Community Health Assessment Team (Chat)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing and scaling up integrated youth mental health care

et al. 2022

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“…It also supports the Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT) which offers free mental health assessments for youth. CHAT is located in a youth friendly location within a shopping mall which reduces the stigma of help-seeking and increases the accessibility of mental health services for young people ( 47 ). The relatively low treatment gap in Singapore may be a result of the assertive outreach and networks established by the EPIP programme.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sampling frame was based on a national population registry database of all citizens and permanent residents in Singapore which is updated regularly. A probability sample was randomly selected using a disproportionate stratified sampling design with 16 strata defined according to ethnicity (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Others) and age groups (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49), 50-64, 65 and above). An over-sampling of residents aged 65 and above, and those of Malay and Indian ethnicity was done to ensure that sufficient sample size would be achieved to improve the reliability of estimates for the subgroup analysis.…”

Section: Survey Population and Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetime Prevalence and Correlates of Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders in Singapore

et al. 2021

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Introduction: The current study aimed to establish the lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, its sociodemographic correlates and association with physical disorders using data from the Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS 2016).Methods: A two-phase design comprising population-level screening of psychotic symptoms using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 psychosis screen followed by clinical reappraisal based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria were used to establish the prevalence.Results: A total of 6,126 respondents completed the first phase of the study, giving a response rate of 69.5%. 5.2% (n = 326) of respondents endorsed at least one symptom in the psychosis screen. After the phase two clinical reappraisal interviews and adjusting for false-negative rate, the corrected prevalence of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders was 2.3% (95% CI: 2.3–2.3%). The odds of having DSM-IV schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders was significantly higher among those of Malay ethnicity (OR = 3.9, 95% CI 1.4–11.0), and those who were unemployed (OR = 4.3, 95% CI 1.2–15.9). 80.4% of those with a psychotic disorder had consulted a doctor or a mental health professional for their symptoms.Conclusions: Our results indicate that approximately 2.3% of Singapore's community-dwelling adult population had a lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. While the treatment gap of the disorder was relatively small, the severe nature of the disorder emphasizes the need for continued outreach and early diagnosis and treatment.

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“…This was achieved through the ease of commuting to the physical location, an easy referral process, affordability (accessibility), having a safe environment for assessment, offering privacy and confidentiality, staff being professional yet friendly and approachable, staff offering information and giving choices to young people (acceptability), providing recommendations regarding treatment and help options fitting with the young person's concerns, and making timely referrals to these options (appropriateness). (6) In 2014, a service review paper by Poon et al described the beginnings of CHAT. (5) In the subsequent years, there has been greater public awareness regarding CHAT and other mental health services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%