CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE IN SYSTEMS OF CARE .1. PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION AND INPATIENTPSYCHIATRIC-SERVICES

This is the first of a series of investigations designed to study the characteristics of children and adolescents with serious emotional dis turbance (SED) who are currently being served in various systems of ca re, ranging from community-based services to psychiatric hospitalizati on and residential placement. The sociodemographic, medical, psycholog ical, and educational records of all children and adolescents admitted to a child and adolescent psychiatric hospital during a fiscal year w ere reviewed. Of the 321 consecutive admissions during the study perio d, official educational placement data were available from the student s' home schools for only 250. These 250 students were grouped accordin g to their educational status prior to admission: (a) students not ide ntified as handicapped for educational services (46%, n = 116); (b) st udents identified as SED (36%, n = 91); and (c) students with other di sabilities, such as mental retardation and learning disabilities (LD) (18%, n = 43). The data were analyzed for the total study sample as we ll as for the three groups in terms of the following variables: gender , age, race, residential status at admission, psychiatric history, pri or outpatient history, substance abuse, criminal record, type of refer ral (voluntary vs. involuntary), source and reason for referral for ps ychiatric services, psychiatric diagnosis at discharge, and medication at admission and at discharge. Significant differences among the thre e groups were found on a number of variables, including gender, psychi atric history, prior outpatient treatment, psychiatric diagnosis, and medication. These findings are discussed in terms of systems of care n eeded for children and adolescents with and without SED.