Behavioural, Emotional, and Psychosocial Problems Clinical Trial
Official title:
What Matters to You? How to Strengthen Adolescent User Involvement in Primary Mental Health Services With Systematic Idiographic Assessment
Procedures for systematic user involvement in primary mental health services are lacking, and
several adolescents are dissatisfied with their opportunities to influence the service
provided. The research on the effects of user involvement is scarce, especially regarding
user involvement for children and adolescents. Hence, we suggest introducing an idiographic
assessment tool in a selection of Norwegian primary mental health services. Idiographic
assessment is a way of measuring psychological constructs, by using tools specifically
adapted for each individual respondent.
This protocol describes the implementation and evaluation of a user involvement tool called
'Assert', in Norwegian primary mental health services. Assert is a simple tool where the
adolescents themselves decide the goals or themes that they would like to address in
collaboration with their service provider. Assert is scored each time the adolescent and the
service provider meet, to monitor progress toward the goal. A randomised controlled trial
design is proposed for this study. Assert will be implemented in 5-10 Norwegian
municipalities, and will include 250 participants between 12 and 23 years. The objective of
the study is to examine the relationship between Assert and perceived user involvement. Are
idiographic measures an adequate way to operationalise user involvement on an individual
level? And if so, can user involvement (i.e. Assert) have an effect on quality of life and
mental health in adolescents? And lastly qualitative analyses of the adolescents' themes and
goals will be conducted to explore what matters to the adolescents that visit primary mental
health services in Norwegian municipalities.
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