Improving Transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services for Adolescents in Transition to Young Adulthood: A Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: These last years adolescents in transition to young adulthood (ATYA) have become a new matter of research. This population encounter specific issues and challenges regarding their mental health particularly when they have attained age boundaries and deal with the issue of transition from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to adult mental health services (AMHS). Many key questions regarding how to sustain continuity of mental health care for ATYA during transition remain. The aim of this paper is to review recent literature in the domain to identify dimensions that should be considered to improve ATYA transition from CAMHS to AMHS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A qualitative literature review was performed in Scopus-Elsevier database using the PRISMA method as reporting guidelines. Only papers discussing dimensions involved in the transition process from CAMHS to AMHS were considered. We restricted the review to researches published between 2010 and 2020. RESULTS: We identified 85 potential researches, after filtering; only 10 articles were finally included in the qualitative synthesis of the literature. Five main dimensions were identified: patient, professional, organization, policy, and ethic related. Those dimensions should be considered in order to improve ATYA transition process out of CAMHS to AMHS. CONCLUSION: This work contributes to identify principal dimensions that should be considered by mental health professionals and organizations in order to improve ATYA transition from CAMHS to AMHS.