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What Can the FOCUS E‐mail Discussion Group Tell Us About the Issues Facing CAMH Professionals?
Author(s) -
Low Jessica,
Dugmore Ottilie
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
child and adolescent mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1475-3588
pISSN - 1475-357X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2008.00488.x
Subject(s) - focus group , workforce , psychological intervention , service (business) , psychology , medical education , public relations , medicine , nursing , political science , business , marketing , law
Background: The FOCUS e‐mail discussion group was established in 1998 with the aim of facilitating information‐sharing between professionals working in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Method: A content analysis was carried out on messages sent to the FOCUS e‐mail discussion group between September 2004 and August 2005. Results: Discussion topics were widely distributed across twelve main themes, reflecting the breadth of issues discussed by CAMH professionals. The five most frequently discussed were: clinical cases; workforce issues; interventions; service policy; and service organisation. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate the usefulness of the FOCUS e‐mail discussion group as a means of identifying the key issues facing CAMH professionals and consequently its potential to inform healthcare practice and policy.