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Abstract

Introduction: The Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign aims to facilitate discussion between patients and providers about what procedures, tests, and treatments are unnecessary. The results of previous evaluations of the CWC recommendations on the use of unnecessary care from various specialties, however, are not consistent. This thesis aims to build upon the previous body of research by evaluating the impact of the CWC recommendations regarding the appropriate prescription of psychiatric medications for young people. Specifically, I assessed the impact of three specific recommendations on the drug utilization, time to treatment, and costs. Methods: To evaluate the impact of the CWC recommendations on the use psychiatric medications among young people in British Columbia, I identified all patients with incident diagnoses and prescription fills for the recommendations under study: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) among adolescents (