Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35168934›Full record

ArticleCMAJ open

Use of mental health services by children and youth in Ontario military families compared with the general population: a retrospective cohort study.

Alyson L Mahar, Heidi Cramm, Lixia Zhang, Alice B Aiken, Simon Chen, Ben Ouellette, Lynda Manser, Paul Kurdyak

Open access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Military Family-Centred Resilience-Building Programming Across the Deployment Cycle: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024
    Article
  2. A cross-sectional study of mental health and well-being among youth in military-connected families.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Alyson L MaharICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. alyson.mahar@umanitoba.ca.
Heidi CrammICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Lixia ZhangICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Alice B AikenICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Simon ChenICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Ben OuelletteICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Lynda ManserICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Paul KurdyakICES Central (Mahar, Chen, Kurdyak), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Community Health Sciences (Mahar, Zhang), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Cramm), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.; Faculty of Health (Aiken), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (Ouellette, Manser), Ottawa, Ont.; Department of Psychiatry (Kurdyak), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
Dalhousie University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn Canada, more than 64 000 children are growing up with 1 or both parents in the military. We compared mental health service use by children and youth in military families versus the general population, to understand potential mental health service gaps.

methodsThis was a matched retrospective cohort study of children and youth (aged < 20 yr) of members of the Canadian Armed Forces posted to Ontario between Apr. 1, 2008, and Mar. 31, 2013, with follow-up to Mar. 31, 2017, using provincial administrative health data at ICES. We created a comparison group of children and youth in the general population, matched 4:1 by age, sex and geography. We compared the use and frequency of mental health-related physician visits, emergency department visits and hospital admissions, and the time to first service use, using regression models.

resultsThis study included 5478 children and youth in military families and a matched cohort of 21 912 children and youth in the general population. For visits and admissions for mental health reasons, children and youth in military families were more likely to see a family physician (adjusted relative risk [RR] 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17 to 1.34), less likely to see a pediatrician (adjusted RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.96), equally likely to see a psychiatrist, and as likely to visit an emergency department or be admitted to hospital as the matched cohort. Children and youth in military families had the same frequency of use of outpatient mental health services. The time to first visit for mental health reasons was shorter to see a family physician (adjusted days difference [DD] -57, 95% CI -80 to -33) and longer to see a psychiatrist (adjusted DD 103, 95% CI 43 to 163) for children and youth in military families.

interpretationChildren and youth in military families use mental health services differently from those in the general population. Provincial policies aimed at increasing access to mental health specialists for children and youth in military families, alongside targeted federal services and programming through military organizations, are needed.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersMilitary FamilyAdolescentAmbulatory CareCanadaChildEmergency Service, HospitalEmergency Services, PsychiatricFemaleHealth Services AccessibilityHospitalizationHumansMaleMental HealthMental Health ServicesPrimary Health Care

Identifiers

PMID35168934
PMCPMC9259414
OpenAlexW4212952903

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.