Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Tamsin Ford
ORCID ID
Contact details
Box 085
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Institute of Psychiatry
De Crespigny Park
London
SE5 8LE
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7848 0466
t.ford@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
The utility of pre-assessment standardised diagnosis in child and adolescent mental health services
Acronym
Study hypothesis
1. Are the clinical assessments more likely to agree with the standardized diagnosis if the clinician has had access to the standardized diagnosis prior to the first appointment with the family?
2. Are the children more likely to receive an evidence-based treatment if the clinician has access to the standardized diagnosis prior to the first appointment with the family?
3. Are children able to access specialist clinics if clinicians/managers are aware of the diagnostic assessment?
4. Is the level of agreement between the clinical and standardized diagnoses higher in the last six months of the study compared to the first, suggesting that the clinical team is learning from their exposure to the standardized assessments?
5. Do clinicians find the information provided by the standardized diagnosis useful in making their own assessment?
6. Is the rate of attendance at first appointments higher among children whose parents have completed a standardized diagnostic assessment while on the waiting list as compared to control children?
7. Do parents find the completion of a standardized assessment prior to meeting the clinician useful and/or acceptable?
Ethics approval
Joint South London and Maudsley and Institute of Psychiatry Research Ethics Committee, 14/09/2005, ref: 05/Q0706/185
Study design
Randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Not specified
Trial type
Not Specified
Patient information sheet
Condition
Childhood psychiatric disorders
Intervention
The intervention would be the provision of diagnostic information to the intervention group, while the control group would undergo the ordinary clinic assessment. The diagnostic information will be gathered from parents and teachers using the Development And Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA).
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Not Specified
Drug names
Primary outcome measures
The primary outcome measures will be the level of agreement between the DAWBA diagnoses and the clinical assessment, and the type of intervention. After the assessment, clinicians will be asked to report which diagnoses they endorse, including no disorder or none of the above, using a pro forma listing the disorders described by the DAWBA. At six months or case closure, the clinicians will describe the type of intervention using a second structured pro forma, which will be based on the categories available on those used in the proposed national minimum data set for child and adolescent mental health services.
Secondary outcome measures
Secondary outcome measures will be parental and clinician measures of outcome, parents and clinicians opinion of the utility of the standardized assessment, the number of appointments attended and the non-attendance rates of the two groups. The latter is collected routinely by the clinic. Questionnaires using a combination of structured and unstructured questionnaires will address the utility of the standardized assessment from the perspective of parents and clinicians. The outcome measures are the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which will be completed by parents, and the Child Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), which will be completed by parents.
Overall trial start date
20/01/2006
Overall trial end date
11/09/2010
Reason abandoned
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
The trial will include all referrals to Croydon child and adolescent mental health service of children aged between 5-11 years of age who are accepted onto the waiting list.
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Child
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
Target number of participants provided at time of registration: 520; Amended as of 14/02/2007: 500 children, 250 in each arm
Participant exclusion criteria
Children of parents with insufficient English to complete the assessment interview and emergency referrals will be excluded due to the difficulty in completing the standardized assessment. Due to the complexity of parental responsibility and therefore gaining consent, children looked after by the local authority will be excluded.
Recruitment start date
20/01/2006
Recruitment end date
11/09/2010
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
Box 085
London
SE5 8LE
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
King's College London (UK)
Sponsor details
Institute of Psychiatry
De Crespigny Park
London
SE5 8AF
United Kingdom
+44 20 7848 0675
G.Dale@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Sponsor type
University/education
Website
Funders
Funder type
Research council
Funder name
Medical Research Council (MRC) (UK)
Alternative name(s)
MRC
Funding Body Type
government organisation
Funding Body Subtype
Federal/National Government
Location
United Kingdom
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Not provided at time of registration
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Not provided at time of registration
Results - basic reporting
Publication summary