Admissions to acute adolescent psychiatric units: a prospective study of clinical severity and outcome

Table 2 Mental health problems at intake.

		Test of differences between the four units
HoNOSCA scales:	Score 3 or 4	χ² (3)^a	P ^c
1. Disruptive, aggressive problems	32%	0.4	0.939
2. Overactive, attention difficulties	31%	11.8	0.008**
3. Self-injury	38%	2.0	0.581
4. Alcohol, drug misuse	13%	7.7	0.052
5. Scholastic or language skills problems	21%	5.6	0.130
6. Physical illness, disability problems	8%	6.5	0.090
7. Hallucinations, delusions	24%	3.6	0.307
8. Psychosomatic problems	8%	7.1	0.067
9. Emotional symptoms	81%	1.0	0.806
10. Peer relationship problems	41%	7.9	0.048*
11. Self-care, independence problems	16%	3.4	0.332
12. Family problems	48%	2.4	0.490
13. Poor school attendance	38%	3.1	0.371
	Mean (SD)	F (3)^b
HoNOSCA total score (sum scale 1-13)	18.5 (6.4)	1.5	0.207

Percentages of patients (N = 192) with score 3 (moderate problem) or score 4 (severe/very severe problem) on each HoNOSCA scale and mean (SD) HoNOSCA total score.
^a Pearson χ² test of differences across the four services with the HoNOSCA five-scale scores reduced to dichotomous scale scores (0-2 and 3-4).
^b We tested differences in the HoNOSCA total score across the four services statistically with ANOVA.
^c We did not correct the P values for multiple comparisons.
* P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01.

ISSN: 1752-4458