Pervasive developmental disorder and early intervention in psychosis services: a survey of care coordinators' experiences.

摘要

AIM: To evaluate the experience of care coordinators encountering clients with co-morbid diagnoses or features of pervasive development disorder (PDD) in an Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a semi-structured face-to-face interview schedule. RESULTS: Thirty-three care coordinators were interviewed. One-third of the care coordinators had previously encountered at least one client with a co-morbid diagnosis of PDD, with the majority feeling confident that they could recognize the features of the syndrome. The estimated reported prevalence of diagnosed PDD in this group was around 4-5%, although social and communication impairments were regularly encountered in clients by at least a quarter of the clinicians interviewed. CONCLUSIONS: Social and communication problems are commonly observed by clinicians in this population and some may represent the presence of a co-morbid PDD. Further efforts should be made to better identify and support this sub-population of EIP clients.