Children with psychotic disorders: What mental health services do they receive and what is the outcome?

Psychotic disorders are rare among children. Little is known about service use or treatment outcomes of children with these disorders. This study addresses this gap and (1) examines differences in the types of mental health and support services received among children with and without psychotic disorders, and (2) examines the association between types of services received and clinical outcomes. The data are from the national evaluation of a federally funded mental health systems-of-care program designed to treat children with serious emotional disturbances. The sample (n=9551) includes children, 5-21 years, who entered into services between 1994 and 2005. Clinician assigned diagnoses at intake into services were extracted from case records. Caregiver report of sociodemographic characteristics, service use history, functional impairment, and behavior problems were assessed at 6-month intervals for 18-months. The analyses will be conducted in two steps. In the first step, multilevel models will be fit to estimate the probability of receipt of specific types of services as a function of clinical diagnosis and child and family characteristics. In the second step, functional impairment and total problems, among children with a psychotic disorder, will be modeled as a function of the services received. We hypothesize that service use will differ for children with and without a psychotic disorder and that the clinical outcomes of children with psychotic disorders will vary as a function of the constellation of services received. The study results will describe a rare population of children and inform service planning and delivery.