PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kristin Cleverley
AU  - Kathryn J Bennett
AU  - Sarah Brennenstuhl
AU  - Amy Cheung
AU  - Joanna Henderson
AU  - Daphne J Korczak
AU  - Paul Kurdyak
AU  - Andrea Levinson
AU  - Antonio Pignatiello
AU  - Jennifer Stinson
AU  - Aristotle N Voineskos
AU  - Peter Szatmari
TI  - Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study (LYiTS): protocol for a multicentre prospective cohort study of youth transitioning out of child and adolescent mental health services at age 18
AID  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035744
DP  - 2020 Feb 01
TA  - BMJ Open
PG  - e035744
VI  - 10
IP  - 2
4099  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/2/e035744.short
4100  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/2/e035744.full
SO  - BMJ Open2020 Feb 01; 10
AB  - Introduction Transition between health services is widely recognised as a problematic hurdle. Yet, the factors necessary for successful transition out of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) as youth reach the service boundary at age 18 are poorly understood. Further, fragmentation and variability among the services provided by mental health organisations serve to exacerbate mental illness and create unnecessary challenges for youth and their families. The primary aim of the Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study (LYiTS) is to describe and model changes in psychiatric symptoms, functioning and health service utilisation at the transition out of CAMHS at age 18 and to identify key elements of the transition process that are amendable to interventions aimed at ensuring continuity of care.Methods and analysis A prospective longitudinal cohort study will be conducted to examine the association between psychiatric symptoms, functioning and mental health and health service use of youth aged 16–18 as they transition out of child mental health services at age 18. We will recruit a sample of (n=350) participants from child and adolescent psychiatric programmes at two hospital and two community mental health sites and conduct assessments annually for 3 years using standardised measures of psychiatric symptoms, functioning and health service utilisation.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been obtained at all four recruitment sites. We will disseminate the results through conferences, open access publications and webinars.