Research Snapshot: Measuring Continuity of Care in Children’s Mental Health
Across Canada, continuity of care has been identified as an important goal in the children’s mental health care system. ‘Continuity of care’ refers to a service user’s experience that is smooth, with linkages between different providers to ensure coordinated care. Until now, there has not been a way to measure continuity of care from the perspective of parents and youth.
Researchers at Western University, in London, Ontario, developed a measure of Continuity of Care in Children’s Mental Health (the C3MH), including a parent version (the C3MH-P) and a youth version (the C3MH-Y). They tested the measure with 364 parents and 57 youth across 13 children’s mental health agencies in Ontario. A key research objective was to make sure that the C3MH has high validity, meaning that it measures continuity of care and not another related concept, like satisfaction with care.
You can read about the results of their study on the EENet website.
This Research Snapshot is based on their article “Continuity of Care in Children’s Mental Health: Development of a Measure,” by Juliana I. Tobon, Graham J. Reid, and Richard D. Goffin. It was published in Administration and Policy in Mental Health, DOI 10.1007/s10488-013-0518-0.
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