The Belgian mental health care sector is trying to reorganise the provision of mental health care services for children and adolescents. In order to support the policy makers this research aims at:
- Gather evidence and knowledge to develop a general framework for organising child and adolescent mental health services. This framework should not develop but create opening towards eventually developing more punctual analyses for the organisation of services and content of care for particular disorders or problems in child and adolescent mental health care (e.g. Depressive disorders; Eating Disorders; Selfharm and Suicide Prevention; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD, ADD); Anxiety Disorders and Phobia's; Autism spectrum Disorders (Pervasive Developmental Disorders); Bipolar Disorder; Borderline Personality Disorder; Schizophrenia; Mental health problems related to Substance abuse).
- Assess the (expected) needs in the population for planning child and adolescent mental health services in Belgium
- Collect evidence and knowledge on the necessary constituent components of the services (staffing levels & competencies, facilities, etc) to provide qualitative and adapted services