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

Abstract

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.