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Children, seen and heard: a descriptive study of all children (aged 12 years and under) referred for acute psychiatric assessment in Tallaght University Hospital over a 10-year period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2020

E. Maguire ,
K. Glynn ,
C. McGrath  and
P. Byrne
E. Maguire*
Affiliation:
Department of Liaison Psychiatry, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland
K. Glynn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Limerick, Ireland
C. McGrath
Affiliation:
Department of Liaison Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Ireland at Tallaght, Tallaght University Hospital, Ireland
P. Byrne
Affiliation:
Department of Liaison Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Ireland at Tallaght, Tallaght University Hospital, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Maguire, Department of Liaison Psychiatry, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Objectives:

A review of the literature demonstrates that relatively little is known about acute psychiatric presentations in children (0–12 years), compared with adolescents or young adults (12 years+). This study aims to review psychiatric presentations of children to a CAMHS Liaison Service at Children’s Hospital Ireland (CHI) at Tallaght University Hospital over a 10-year period.

Methods:

A retrospective study was undertaken of case notes of all children aged 12 years and under who were referred to the CAMHS Liaison Service between January 2009 and December 2018 (n = 318). Data were anonymised and inputted into SPSSv25 for analysis. The relationships between presentations and methods of self-harm over time were measured using Pearson’s correlation. Associations between categorical variables were analysed using chi-squared tests.

Results:

There was a significant increase in presentations of under-12s over the 10-year period (r(8)=0.66, p = 0.02). There was also a significant increase in children presenting with a disturbance of conduct and/or emotions over time (r(8) = 0.79, p < 0.001). There was a significant association between female gender and ingestion (X2 = 12.73, df = 1, p < 0.05) and between male gender and ligature as a method of self-harm (X2 = 5.54, df = 1, p < 0.05). Over half (53%) of children presented with suicidal thoughts and 22% presented with suicidal behaviours. The reported use of ligature as a method of self-harm emerged only from 2012 among cases studied.

Conclusions:

Children aged 12 years and under are presenting in increasing numbers with acute mental health difficulties, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours. There is a worrying trend in methods of self-harm, particularly in high lethality behaviours such as attempted strangulation.

Keywords

CAMHSliaisonmental healthchild and adolescent psychiatrypaediatric psychiatrysuicideself-harmyouthchildren
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 175 - 183
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland

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