Effects of Routine Feedback to Clinicians on Youth Mental Health Outcomes: A Randomized Cluster Design

Mental Health Wellness 1 Clinical Trial

Official title:

Effects of Routine Feedback to Clinicians on Youth Mental Health Outcomes: A Randomized Cluster Design

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01308879
• Other study ID #: 070342
• Secondary ID: R01MH068589
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: March 2, 2011
• Last updated: March 3, 2011
• Start date: May 2004
• Est. completion date: June 2009

Study information

• Verified date: March 2011
• Source: Vanderbilt University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this clinical trial was to test the hypothesis that clients of clinicians who were scheduled to receive weekly feedback on their clients' progress would improve faster than clients of clinicians who were not scheduled to receive weekly feedback.

Description:

The primary approach to improving psychosocial treatment for youths has been to implement evidence-supported treatments (ESTs) in community services. However, this approach has not produced clear cut results of effectiveness. A recently developed alternative is to improve outcomes through routine measurement and feedback to clinicians and supervisors. The investigators used a cluster randomized experiment with 28 sites affiliated with a national behavioral health organization to assess whether clients of clinicians who were scheduled to receive weekly feedback on their clients' progress would improve faster than clients of clinicians who were not scheduled to receive weekly feedback.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 356
• Est. completion date: June 2009
• Est. primary completion date: December 2008
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 11 Years to 18 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• all youths 11-18 years old, entering treatment as usual, home-based services through the service provider. Youths' primary caregiver and clinician also participate.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Psychosocial Problem

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Contextualized Feedback Systems (CFS)tm
After clinical questionnaires are entered, an automated feedback report is available online weekly to clinicians (and supervisors) in the experimental group. The report shows current mental health status of youths, alerts, and trends over time. Reports also show some clinical data on youths' caregivers.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	28 sites in 10 states affiliated with Providence Service Corporation (location info is for corporate office)	Tucson	Arizona

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Vanderbilt University	Leon Lowenstein Foundation Inc., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale	The SFSS is part of a battery of clinical measures (Peabody Treatment Progress Battery:PTPB) developed by the researchers. It assesses change in closely-timed repeated measurements. Parallel forms are completed by youths, caregivers, and clinicians at the end of treatment sessions. The SFSS includes 32 items that ask the respondent to rate how frequently in the last two weeks the youth experienced emotions or exhibited behaviors linked to typical mental health disorders for youths (e.g., ADHD, conduct disorder, depression).	The SFSS is completed at intake by youths and caregivers, then by youths, caregivers, and clinicians at the 1st treatment session and every other session (week) thereafter for as long as the youth is enrolled in the intervention (CFS).	No
Secondary	Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale-CEPI (BMSLSS-CEPI)	The BMSLSS-CEPI is a revised version of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003). The BMSLSS-CEPI was designed to assess global life satisfaction as well as domain specific satisfaction with family, friends, school, self and living environment. Life satisfaction may be targeted directly or indirectly with treatment and thus can be thought of as a positive, or strengths-based, indicator of treatment progress (outcome).	The BMSLSS-CEPI is completed by the youth at intake, at the 2nd treatment session, and every 8 weeks thereafter for as long as the youth is enrolled in the intervention (CFS).	No
Secondary	The Children's Hope Scale (CHS)	The CHS (Snyder et al., 1997), a public domain measure used with youth in this study, assesses youth hopefulness. The measure asks youths to report on their ability to generate paths toward goals and persevere toward those goals. Youth hopefulness is conceptually an important factor in the successful treatment of emotional or behavioral disorders, constituting an outcome that may be affected by the treatment process.	The CHS is completed by the youth at intake and every 8 weeks thereafter for as long as the youth is enrolled in the intervention (CFS).	No

External Links

•   Contextualized Feedback Systems (CFS)tm