Differences in Ethnic Background between Regular and Forensic Youth Mental Health Care Patients

The ethnic composition of the group of patients treated at both regular and forensic youth mental health care in a big city area in the Netherlands was compared to that of the regional youth population. In this way more accurate information about the mental health care utilization of different ethnic groups was obtained. Based on patient and population statistics, treatment percentages and relative risks were calculated for the major ethnic groups with Dutch natives as a reference. For most immigrant children (age 5-10) the relative risk on receiving regular mental health treatment was about half of that of their Dutch native peers. For the adolescents (age 11-19) the results of immigrants compared to Dutch natives were about the same, whereas the relative risk on treatment in forensic facilities was much higher for immigrant youths than for Dutch natives. Because it is known from epidemiological research that the prevalence of child and adolescent mental disorders is at least as high for ethnic minority groups as for majorities, we concluded that the accessibility of the regular and the forensic child and adolescent mental health facilities was strongly biased by ethnic factors.Â

Strategies for high retention rates of low-income families in FAST (Families And Schools Together): an evidence-based parenting programme in the USA, UK, Holland and Germany

This article describes strategies of an evidence-based parenting programme, Families and Schools Together (FAST), which has a track record for retaining low-income families. FAST multi-family groups held after school are led by culturally representative teams of parents and professionals. Parents are coached to practise positive parenting, lead fun family activities, including one to one responsive play, and meet in parent groups. Families (n = 403) were recruited into 31 FAST groups: 253 families in the UK; 114 in Germany and 36 in Holland. Attendance was recorded. To graduate a family attended 6 or more of 8 weekly sessions. Results revealed high retention rates; 83% for the UK, 83% for Holland and 89% for Germany. The assumption is that the following strategies contributed to these high retention rates: respect for parents to co-produce the programme; flexibility while being “manualized”; providing positive emotion; “foot in the door” recruitment technique; crossing the social ecology to increase social capital; and systematically reinforcing attendance