Background
Rationale
Objectives
Methods/Design
Data sources and search for studies
Study eligibility criteria
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Population. Studies that concern services for children (less than 19 years old) with MH concerns, including, but not limited to, externalizing (e.g., oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and internalizing (e.g., anxiety, depression) problems, eating problems, and substance use. We will exclude studies of learning or developmental disabilities, except for those that include participants who are dually diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
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Concept. We are interested in studies that quantify variation in some aspect of mental health services (e.g., accessibility, volume, duration, or quality) as a function of socio-demographic and/or geographic variables (e.g., family income, parental educational attainment, family structure, age, sex, gender, language, race/ethnicity, communities, or distance to care) factors. Studies will be excluded if they do not consider variation specifically in relation to children and youth (e.g., report only overall rates or do not distinguish between adults and youth within a mixed sample). Study designs of interest will include observational studies (including cross-sectional studies and cohort studies). Clinical trials will be included only if we find trials whose specific aim is to enhance the equity of CYMHS. We will exclude qualitative studies (because they do not generate statistical indices), systematic review, meta-analysis, scoping reviews, literature review letters, commentaries, editorials, case reports, and case series.
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Context. Any mental health services setting will be considered in the review. This includes community-based CYMH agencies, mental health services delivered within the health care sector, and services within child welfare, counselling, juvenile justice, and the education system.
Study selection
Data extraction
Study characteristics | |
• Author and date of publication | |
• Study design (e.g., cohort, case-control) | |
• Country of conduct | |
• Study time period | |
• Population demographics (e.g., age, ethnicity, geographic setting) | |
• Number of participants | |
• Study setting (e.g., outpatient, classroom) | |
• Sector (e.g., specialized mental health) | |
Conceptual definition of equity | |
Service characteristic | |
• Access to services | |
• Volume of services received | |
• Quality of services | |
Population dimension | |
• Sex or gender | |
• Rurality | |
• Language | |
• Socioeconomic status | |
Statistical construct | |
• Statistics used to measure equity (e.g., difference in rates, difference in percentages, standardized mean difference, odds ratio for receipt of services, Gini curve) | |
Numerical value of the index |