Higson-Sweeney Nina, Loades Maria Elizabeth, Hiller Rachel, Read Rebecca
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK.
Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, UK.
Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2020 Jan;25(1):200-212. doi: 10.1177/1359104519838573. Epub 2019 Apr 8.
Both fatigue and sleep difficulties are common symptoms of mental health presentations such as depression and anxiety. Despite this, little is known about how psychologists in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) assess and treat these common symptoms.
Qualitative interviews with nine psychologists working in CAMHS analysed using thematic analysis.
Fatigue and sleep problems do not tend to be the focus of assessment because they are seen to be part of other presentations and not accorded priority. Psychologists struggled to differentiate fatigue from sleep problems, with greater clarity about sleep problems, which appear to be more routinely assessed. A number of barriers to addressing fatigue and sleep problems were identified, including lack of motivation from young people to make behavioural changes to address fatigue and/or sleep difficulties. Psychologists wished for more training, access to information for young people and families and more service integration with paediatric physical health settings.
Sleep problems and fatigue may not be thoroughly assessed and addressed in CAMHS and are often conflated, with the focus on enquiring about sleep, not fatigue. Further research is required to elucidate whether the themes identified are more pervasive. Potential interventions include training and information provision.
疲劳和睡眠困难都是心理健康问题（如抑郁和焦虑）的常见症状。尽管如此，对于儿童和青少年心理健康服务（CAMHS）中的心理学家如何评估和治疗这些常见症状，人们知之甚少。
对在CAMHS工作的九位心理学家进行定性访谈，并采用主题分析法进行分析。
疲劳和睡眠问题往往不是评估的重点，因为它们被视为其他症状的一部分，未被给予优先考虑。心理学家难以区分疲劳和睡眠问题，对睡眠问题的认识更清晰，睡眠问题似乎更常被评估。确定了一些解决疲劳和睡眠问题的障碍，包括年轻人缺乏改变行为以解决疲劳和/或睡眠困难的动机。心理学家希望获得更多培训、为年轻人及其家庭提供信息，以及与儿科身体健康机构进行更多服务整合。
在CAMHS中，睡眠问题和疲劳可能未得到充分评估和解决，且常常被混淆，重点在于询问睡眠情况，而非疲劳情况。需要进一步研究以阐明所确定的主题是否更具普遍性。潜在的干预措施包括培训和提供信息。
