Letters
Mental health Statistics
Volume 196 - Issue 10

Targeted primary care-based mental health services for young Australians

Author:  Jon N Jureidini

Med J Aust 2012; 196 (10): 627. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.10535
Published online: 4 June 2012
To the Editor: The report by Scott and colleagues on the “demographic characteristics, diagnostic category, stage of illness, as well as psychosocial and vocational impairment” of 1260 patients presenting to two Sydney headspace centres1 is problematic for several reasons. No convincing data were presented to support the authors’ conclusion that the research demonstrated that “well designed youth ...
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To the Editor: The report by Scott and colleagues on the “demographic characteristics, diagnostic category, stage of illness, as well as psychosocial and vocational impairment” of 1260 patients presenting to two Sydney headspace centres1 is problematic for several reasons.

No convincing data were presented to support the authors’ conclusion that the research demonstrated that “well designed youth mental health services can directly attract large numbers of young people”. In fact, the sites studied attracted only one new patient per site per working day (1260 in 27 months = 23 per month per site). Other research found that a tiny minority of young people volunteered any knowledge of headspace as a mental health resource.2

The authors further claimed that “[s]everal characteristics of headspace centres may underpin their potential to engage young people in treatment”. However, they did not provide data about whether patients attending headspace were engaged by the service, how often the patients attended or what treatments they accepted, or patient outcomes or satisfaction levels. Furthermore, given the controversy about the recent large public investment in headspace, it would have added to the value of the paper if the authors had presented the cost per patient of the service.

The article is already being cited in a way that exaggerates its questionable findings, including uncorroborated claims that the study found that young people prefer headspace to GPs.3 This adds to a pattern of misleading citation4 that distorts the psychiatric literature. It is worrying that the Journal has contributed to this process by publishing a paper with claims that are inadequately supported by its findings.

Author

  • Jon N Jureidini1
  • 1. Department of Psychological Medicine, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: jon.jureidini@health.sa.gov.au

Competing interests

No relevant disclosures.

References

View this article on Wiley Online Library

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