Self-harm-related mental health presentations to emergency departments by children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups in South Western Sydney
Background Rates of self-harm among children and young people (CYP) have been on the rise, presenting major public health concerns in Australia and worldwide. However, there is a scarcity of evidence relating to self-harm among CYP from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Aim...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2024-11-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424007634/type/journal_article |
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| Summary: | Background
Rates of self-harm among children and young people (CYP) have been on the rise, presenting major public health concerns in Australia and worldwide. However, there is a scarcity of evidence relating to self-harm among CYP from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
Aims
To analyse the relationship between self-harm-related mental health presentations of CYP to emergency departments and CALD status in South Western Sydney (SWS), Australia.
Method
We analysed electronic medical records of mental health-related emergency department presentations by CYP aged between 10 and up to 18 years in six public hospitals in the SWS region from January 2016 to March 2022. A multilevel logistic regression model was used on these data to assess the association between self-harm-related presentations and CALD status while adjusting for covariates and individual-level clustering.
Results
Self-harm accounted for 2457 (31.5%) of the 7789 mental health-related emergency department presentations by CYP; CYP from a CALD background accounted for only 8% (n = 198) of the self-harm-related presentations. CYP from the lowest two most socioeconomic disadvantaged areas made 63% (n = 1544) of the total self-harm-related presentations. Findings of the regression models showed that CYP from a CALD background (compared with those from non-CALD backgrounds) had 19% lower odds of self-harm (adjusted odds ratio 0.81, 95% CI 0.66–0.99).
Conclusions
Findings of this study provide insights into the self-harm-related mental health presentations and other critical clinical features related to CYP from CALD backgrounds that could better inform health service planning and policy to manage self-harm presentations and mental health problems among CYP.
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| ISSN: | 2056-4724 |