Khiatani Sonia, Liu Denise, Yeo Benjamin Sen Son, Wong John Chee Meng
Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
Strategic Planning and Research Department, Fei Yue Community Services, Singapore, Singapore.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 16;14:1133659. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1133659. eCollection 2023.
Hidden youth are youth who withdraw from society for at least 6 months, physically isolating within their homes or rooms. There has been a steady rise in this phenomenon across many developed countries, and this trend is expected to continue. As hidden youths often present with complex psychopathology and psychosocial issues, multi-factorial intervention approaches are recommended. To reach this isolated population and address gaps in services, a community mental health service and a youth social work team collaborated to develop the first specialized intervention for hidden youth in Singapore. This pilot intervention combines components from Hikikomori treatment models from Japan and Hong Kong, and a treatment program for isolated individuals diagnosed with Internet Gaming Disorder. This paper describes the development of the pilot intervention model- a four-stage biopsychosocial intervention targeting the complex needs of hidden youth and their families- and illustrates its implementation and challenges faced through a case study. Based on 2 years of service delivery to 25 youths, good practices such as utilizing novel outreach strategies and the importance of involving and caring for caregivers are also highlighted. Preliminary outcomes of this ongoing pilot intervention indicate reductions in social withdrawal behavior and increased engagement in school or work, especially for youth at the final stage of intervention. Strengths of the program include its multi-disciplinary and flexible nature, and the whole-family approach. Limitations of this program included a lack of information on Singaporean hidden youth and the lack of quantitative outcome data of this pilot program. In future, we aim to further enhance program elements through collaboration with international and local partners, and to develop an evaluative framework to determine program effectiveness.
隐蔽青年是指那些脱离社会至少6个月，在自己家中或房间里进行身体隔离的年轻人。在许多发达国家，这一现象一直在稳步上升，而且预计这一趋势还将持续。由于隐蔽青年常常表现出复杂的精神病理学和心理社会问题，因此建议采用多因素干预方法。为了接触到这一孤立的人群并解决服务方面的差距，新加坡的一个社区心理健康服务机构和一个青年社会工作团队合作，为隐蔽青年开发了首个专门干预措施。这项试点干预措施结合了来自日本和香港的茧居族治疗模式的组成部分，以及针对被诊断患有网络游戏障碍的孤立个体的治疗方案。本文描述了试点干预模式的开发——一种针对隐蔽青年及其家庭的复杂需求的四阶段生物心理社会干预——并通过一个案例研究说明了其实施情况和面临的挑战。基于为25名青年提供了两年服务的情况，还强调了诸如采用新颖的外展策略等良好做法以及让照顾者参与和关心照顾者的重要性。这项正在进行的试点干预的初步结果表明，社交退缩行为有所减少，在学校或工作中的参与度有所提高，尤其是在干预最后阶段的青年。该项目的优势包括其多学科和灵活的性质，以及全家参与的方法。该项目的局限性包括缺乏关于新加坡隐蔽青年的信息，以及该试点项目缺乏定量的结果数据。未来，我们的目标是通过与国际和本地伙伴合作进一步加强项目要素，并制定一个评估框架来确定项目的有效性。
