Levels of Care: A Scoping Review of Conceptualizations in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

Abstract

The term level of care is utilized in mental health care to refer to the different ways in which treatment can be delivered, including qualitative (e.g., modality, approach, setting) and quantitative (e.g., number of sessions, frequency of sessions) variations in services. The concept is often embedded in models of care and measures, yet there is no agreed upon definition or understanding of what it encompasses. A scoping review of level of care conceptualizations in models of care, and triage and service use measures was conducted. Twenty-nine conceptualizations across 63 articles were identified, 12 focused on qualitative components, four on quantitative components, and 13 on a combination of qualitative and quantitative components. A conceptual model to integrate the literature reviewed is proposed.