Home > Examining predictors of psychological distress among youth engaging with Jigsaw for a brief intervention.

Mac Dhonnagáin, Niall and O'Reilly, Aileen and Shevlin, Mark and Dooley, Barbara (2024) Examining predictors of psychological distress among youth engaging with Jigsaw for a brief intervention. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 55, pp. 731-743. doi: 10.1007/s10578-022-01436-2.

External website: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10578-0...

Risk factors for psychological distress among help-seeking youth are poorly understood. Addressing this gap is important for informing mental health service provision. This study aimed to identify risk factors among youth attending Jigsaw, a youth mental health service in Ireland. Routine data were collected from N = 9,673 youth who engaged with Jigsaw (Mean age = 16.9 years, SD = 3.14), including presenting issues, levels of psychological distress, age, and gender. Confirmatory Factor Analysis identified thirteen factors of clustering issues.

Several factors, including Self-criticism and Negative Thoughts, were strongly associated with items clustering as psychological distress, however these factors were poorly predictive of distress as measured by the CORE (YP-CORE: R = 14.7%, CORE-10: R = 6.9%). The findings provide insight into associations between young people's identified presenting issues and self-identified distress. Implications include applying appropriate therapeutic modalities to focus on risk factors and informing routine outcome measurement in integrated youth mental health services.


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