Lessons Learnt From Running a Transition-Age Youth Mental Health Outpatient Clinic in Italy: The PRecocity of Intervention in Adolescent Medicine (PRIMA) Experience.

AIM: This study assessed whether transition age between adolescence and young adulthood poses a challenge for both patients and mental health services.

METHODS

We retrospectively examined the baseline characteristics, diagnoses and treatments of 99 individuals aged 16-35 presenting to the PRecocity of Intervention in Adolescent Medicine (PRIMA) transition-age mental health outpatient clinic, Italy, over a 24-month period.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Most patients were female, aged 20 or younger, employed and did not experience impairment in daily autonomies. About half patients were referred by general practitioners or self-referred, often as initial contact with any adult mental health services, complaining with multiple symptoms (88%), mainly including anxiety, affective disturbances and insomnia. Most of them received a single diagnosis (68%), one out of three being diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder. Patients presenting with anxiety (63% vs. 32%; OR = 3.55, p = 0.01) and affective symptoms (56% vs .23%; OR = 4.26, p = 0.01) and receiving multiple diagnoses (30% vs. 9%; χ 2(2) = 19.7, p < 0.01) were more likely to be prescribed with psychopharmacological medication at the first visit. At a 6-month follow-up, one in two patients remained in PRIMA, while the others required different services tailored to their specific conditions, especially neurodevelopmental disorders.

CONCLUSION

Findings from this study warrant the need for specialised mental healthcare facilities ensuring timely and high-quality interventions for adolescents transitioning into young adulthood.