The mental health care system for children and adolescents in Greece: a scoping review and structure assessment Article Swipe
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· 2024
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/zcgy5
· OA: W4400310702
The mental health system in Greece faces challenges to complete its transition to a community-oriented model, with particular concerns for child and adolescent mental care due to lower coverage and service gaps. The aim of this study is to perform a scoping review of the mental health care system providing care to children and adolescents operating in the country. We initially review the National Health Care Service (ESY), encompassing its governance, participating agents, financing, coverage, organizational structure, and the range of services offered. Then, we review the mental health care system embedded within ESY, tracing its historical development from the psychiatric reform to its current state. We outline the system’s structure, organization, available services, human resources, and coverage, with specific focus on child and adolescent care; psychoeducational facilities within the school system are also reviewed. For a situational analysis of service availability and distribution, we mapped facilities providing mental health care to children and adolescents, uncovering underserved regions. Our assessment reveals an established framework for a community-oriented, universal access, mental health system, yet facing several barriers to its full realization, including an inconsistent primary healthcare system, a shortage of specialists in the public sector, imbalanced distribution of services, lack of coordination of care across providers, substantial underfunding and absence of quality monitoring. To address these challenges, we explore potential interventions that have proven effective in analogous scenarios, encompassing strategies to promote child and adolescent mental health in primary care, coordinate patient pathways, establish standards of care, and monitor performance.
