Psykologer i kommunen: En kartlegging av tjenester for barn og unge med psykiske vansker

Abstract

Background: Frontline mental health services for children and adolescents are receiving increased attention, and all Norwegian municipalities were required to hire a clinical psychologist by 2020. However, we know little about what role clinical psychologists have taken in frontline services in terms of the content of their service or how they differ from other frontline practitioners. Objective: The objective was to investigate what types of problems children and adolescents who receive help from frontline psychologists have, what type of help is being offered, what improvements are needed, and how the services provided by psychologists differ from those of other frontline service providers. Method: The current study is based on reports from 139 psychologists and 587 other professionals working with children and adolescents in frontline services. Results: The psychologists report emotional struggles and challenging life situations to be the most common problems among their service users. Most of the interventions delivered by psychologists are provided at individual level rather than at group or population level. Compared with other frontline practitioners, psychologists more often include parents in sessions with children and adolescents. Both psychologists and other professionals report a need for increased collaboration across services. Implications: The results suggest that improvements could involve strengthening collaboration between frontline and specialist services.