Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37164454›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2023

Does recommended mental health follow-up care occur after postdeployment screening in the Canadian Armed Forces? A retrospective cohort study.

David Boulos, Bryan Garber

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 31% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. 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

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

David BoulosDirectorate of Mental Health, Canada Department of National Defense, Ottawa, Canada david.boulos@forces.gc.ca.ORCID 0000-0001-7585-0681
Bryan GarberDirectorate of Mental Health, Canada Department of National Defense, Ottawa, Canada.
Health Canada · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo determine Canadian service members' level of adherence to a recommendation for mental health services follow-up that was assigned by clinicians during postdeployment screening.

designRetrospective cohort study.

settingCanadian military population.

participantsThe cohort consisted of personnel (n=28 460) with a deployment within the 2009-2014 time frame. A stratified random sample (n=3004) was selected for medical chart review. However, we restricted our analysis to individuals whose completed screening resulted in a recommendation for mental health services follow-up (sample n=316 (weighted n=2034) or 11.2% of screenings.

interventionsPostdeployment health screening. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: The outcome was adherence to a screening-indicated mental health services follow-up recommendation, assessed within 90 days, a preferred delay, and within 365 days, a delay considered partially associated with the screening recommendation.

resultsAdherence within 90 days of screening was 71.1% (95% CI 59.7% to 82.5%) for individuals with 'major' mental health concerns, 36.1% (95% CI 23.9% to 48.4%) for those with 'minor' mental health concerns, and 46.8% (95% CI 18.6% to 75.0%), for those with psychosocial mental health concerns; the respective 365-day adherence fractions were 85.3% (95% CI 76.1% to 94.5%), 55.7% (95% CI 42.0% to 69.4%) and 48.6% (95% CI 20.4% to 76.9%). Logistic regression indicated that a 90-day adherence among those with a 'major' mental health concern was higher among those screening after 2012 (adjusted OR (AOR) 5.45 (95% CI 1.08 to 27.45)) and lower, with marginal significance, among those with deployment durations greater than 180 days (AOR 0.35 (95% CI 0.11 to 1.06)).

conclusionsOn an individual level, screening has the potential to identify when a care need is present and a follow-up assessment can be recommended; however, we found that adherence to this recommendation is not absolute, suggesting that administrative checks and possibly, process refinements would be beneficial to ensure that care-seeking barriers are minimised.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersMilitary PersonnelAftercareCanadaHumansMental HealthRetrospective Studiesepidemiologyhealth services administration & managementmental healthoccupational & industrial medicinepsychiatry

Identifiers

PMID37164454
PMCPMC10174001
OpenAlexW4376131639

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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.