Objectives: This survey of primary, secondary and area schools investigated their referrer satisfaction with six Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) teams, spread over two metropolitan and four rural centres, and servicing six corresponding metropolitan and rural education districts. The survey aimed to identify barriers to referral from schools to CAMHS and to generate domains for quality improvement across the six local areas.
Method: School principals and counsellors completed the online Southern Schools Satisfaction Survey, which sought qualitative comment about aspects of the community mental health service in their area.
Results: The response rate (65%) was reasonably good for a large online survey, with 149 schools participating (171 respondents: 113 principals and 58 counsellors). The majority of the respondents were satisfied with the service from CAMHS (24% were ‘very satisfied’, 47% ‘mostly satisfied’ 23% ‘mildly dissatisfied’ and 6% ‘very dissatisfied’). The main barriers and sources of dissatisfaction that schools identified were CAMHS waiting lists, service availability and lack of flexibility. Practices from the team with the highest percentage of satisfied school respondents formed a constructive basis for service-wide quality improvement. These changes focused on flexibility in emergency responses, communication with schools and process of care with students.
Conclusions: Surveying referrer satisfaction can be useful for quality improvement within regional mental health services through the identification of good practice which can be transferred across teams.
SawyerMGArneyFMBaghurstPA. The mental health of young people in Australia: key findings from the child and adolescent component of the national survey of mental health and well-being. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry2001; 35: 806–814.
2.
RoegerLAllisonSMartinGDaddsVKeevesJ. Adolescent depressive symptomalogy: Improve schools or help students?. Australian Journal of Psychology2001; 53: 134–139.
3.
StiffmanARPescosolidoBCabassaLJ. Building a model to understand youth service access: The Gateway Provider Model. Mental Health Services Research2004; 6: 189–198.
4.
Government of South Australia. Child Health and Education support Services (chess)http://www.chess.sa.edu.au/.
5.
WhitworthDBallC. The impact of primary mental health workers on referrals to CAMHS. Child and Adolescent Mental Health2004; 9: 177–179.
6.
MaloneyDWalterG. Contribution of ‘School-Link’ to an Area Mental Health Service. Australasian Psychiatry2005; 13: 399–402.
7.
AllisonSRoegerLDaddsVWoodAMartinG. Much briefer assessments of children and adolescents. Australian Psychiatry1999; 7: 338–340.
8.
ParkerGWrightMRobertsonSSengozA. To whom do you refer? A referrer satisfaction study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1996; 30: 337–342.
9.
PapanastassiouMRocheSBoyleJBaxterRChestermanP. A survey of referrers' satisfaction with a regional forensic psychiatric service: what do they want?. Psychiatric Bulletin2003; 27: 96–98.
10.
DossetorDRNunnKPFairleyMEggletonD. A child and adolescent psychiatric outreach service for rural New South Wales: A telemedicine pilot study. Journal of Paediatric Child Health1999; 35: 525–529.
11.
LewisRMusellaEBerkMDoddSMcKenzieHHylandM. An audit of clinical outcomes and client and referrer satisfaction with a Mood and Anxiety Disorders Unit. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice2004; 10: 549–552.
12.
OwensPLHoagwoodKHortwitzSM. Barriers to children's mental health services. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2002; 41: 731–738.
13.
TebesJKBowlerSMShahS. Service access and service system development in a children's behavioural health system of care. Evaluation and Program Planning2005; 28: 151–160.
14.
AllisonSRoegerLDaddsVWoodAMartinG. Brief therapy for childrens mental health problems: outcomes in a rural setting. Australian Journal of Rural Health2000; 8: 161–166.
