The Outcome of Nationwide Community Outreach Service for Child and Adolescent with Mental Disabilities and Psychiatric Disorders in Taiwan: A 6-year Follow-up Study

Abstract

Objective To improve the quality of health care, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan start to launch a project in June 2015, providing community outreach services and outpatient psychiatric treatment to schools, institutions for child and adolescent patients with mental disabilities. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the development of the project and intended to promote medical service quality for child and adolescent patients. Methods Service team members from eight medical centers and psychiatric hospitals in Taiwan, providing both outreach community services and outpatient psychiatric treatment. We collected the personal information and assessment scale scores of all patients from January 2016 to December 2021 (N = 432). Results The findings revealed significant improvement in the scores of C-GAS, PSP, CGI-S, and CGI-I (p < 0.001). The scores of the self-reported assessment scale ASEBA also showed significant improvement for internalizing problems, externalizing problems and total problems (p < 0.001). Most of the disabled children and adolescents have benefited greatly from this project, including presenting less disruptive behavior, fewer hospital readmissions, and more improved adaptation. Discussion This 6-year community-based follow-up treatment shows that the majority of disabled patients continue experiencing an improved condition after intervention.