Forschungsnetzwerk KODAP: Pilotdaten zur Inanspruchnahmepopulation universitärer Psychotherapie-Ambulanzen für Kinder und Jugendliche

Background: In recent years, the number of university outpatient psychotherapy clinics for children and adolescents in Germany has substantially increased. This is of potential importance not only for the health care of young people affected by mental disorders but also for teaching and mental health research. Knowledge about certain disorders in children and adolescents, predictors of treatment success, and treatment trajectories is still in its early stages. Objective: Therefore, in 2013 an initiative was launched to aggregate data from university outpatient psychotherapy clinics for children and adolescents in order to create a German-wide research data platform. KODAP short for the coordination of data collection and evaluation at research and training outpatient clinics for psychotherapy - is responsible for the coordination of this complex project for children/adolescents and adults. Method: The patient population treated in seven university outpatient psychotherapy clinics for children and adolescents in 2016 is described. Descriptive data on the diagnoses as well as on the age, frequency of comorbid disorders of the patient population, their parents, and their therapists are presented. Results: For the year 2016, data of 568 children and adolescents between 3 and 20 years of age (M = 11.89, SD = 3.68; 46.6% female) were available. The most frequent diagnoses were anxiety disorders (F40, F41, F93; n = 317, 35.30%) followed by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders and conduct disorders (F90, F91, F92; n = 195, 21.71 %). In 45.6% of the patients, there was at least one additional comorbid diagnosis. The data of 257 mothers, 228 fathers, and 126 therapists, of these 83.1 % female, are described. Conclusion: The present study indicates the feasibility of consolidating and evaluating research data across university outpatient psychotherapy clinics for children and adolescents. This KODAP pilot study provides the first description of this patient population.