Helping the mental health needs of young people with long-term physical conditions

What is it about?

The mental health needs of young people with long-term physical problems worsen their quality of life, but addressing these needs creates costs for the healthcare system and the young people’s families. In this article we reviewed a study on the value for money of a new cross-diagnosis treatment providing mental health care to young people with long-term physical problems. The economic analysis in the study was well designed and the involvement of staff in lower bands could save money. However, problems exist in the conduct of the analysis, as this treatment was not compared against standard care, so it is hard to say if its benefits and costs could be higher or lower than what is normally provided. Future research will need to bridge this gap and help refining the value for money of the intervention.

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Photo by Total Shape on Unsplash

Photo by Total Shape on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This commentary provides a timely perspective on the value for money of a cross-diagnosis treatment designed to help the mental health needs of young people with physical long-term cinditions. By assessing the strengths and limitations of an existing study, we delve into what may work or not with the cross-diagnosis treatment, and we also outline gaps which need to be addressed by future research.