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Teenage School Refusers Grow Up: A Follow-up Study of 168 Subjects, Ten Years on Average after In-Patient Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ian Berg*
Affiliation:
Belmont Grove, Leeds LS2 9NS, and Yorkshire Regional Health Authority. University of Leeds
Ann Jackson
Affiliation:
Yorkshire Regional Training Scheme
*
Correspondence

Abstract

Efforts were made to follow up 168 young teenage school refusers ten years, on average, after they had been treated as inpatients in an adolescent psychiatric unit. Almost half were well or much improved throughout the follow-up period. Outcome was most satisfactory in intellectually bright children treated under the age of 14 and among those who were well or substantially better shortly after discharge. Thirty per cent of the group had received treatment for psychiatric illness, 14% had seen a psychiatrist and 5% had been admitted to hospital for psychiatric treatment during the follow-up period. Thirty per cent appeared to be disturbed at the time that they were reviewed. The ‘decennial-inception’ and ‘point-prevalence’ rates for psychiatric disorder appeared unduly high by comparison with local and national rates of disturbance.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

An abridged version of this paper was presented by Ian Berg at the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Cardiff, 12 July 1984.

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