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Evaluating the effectiveness of the Family Connections program for caregivers of youth with mental health challenges, part II: a qualitative analysis
- Authors:
- BORITZ Tali Z., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health Expectations, 24(2), 2021, pp.709-718. Online only
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: The Family Connections™ (FC) program is a 12‐week support and skill‐training program for caregivers of youth with mental health challenges. The intervention was originally developed with a focus on borderline personality disorder (BPD). It is important to understand the experiences of caregivers in such interventions, as well as its applicability beyond BPD, for the purposes of evaluation and ongoing program improvement. Objective: To explore and analyse the experiences of caregivers of youth with diverse mental health challenges and who participated in FC. Design: Semi‐structured interviews with thirteen FC‐participating caregivers of youth with mental health challenges. Results: Thematic analysis uncovered three major themes regarding caregivers' experience with FC: (a) FC increased the caregivers' ability to manage their youth's mental health challenges; (b) participating in FC impacted their intra‐ and interpersonal spheres; and (c) improvements to the program were proposed. Following participation in FC, caregivers felt they learned a new approach to understanding themselves, their youth and mental health, and were better able to manage their youth's mental health challenges. Discussion and conclusion: FC is a promising intervention for caregivers of youth with mental health challenges, beyond the traditional BPD focus. The intervention has the potential to provide broad‐based benefits for caregivers and should be considered for implementation and scale‐up across youth‐ and caregiver‐serving organizations. Potential areas of intervention flexibility and improvement are discussed. Patient/public contribution: Caregivers were involved in the program development and facilitation of FC. A person with lived experience was involved with the analysis. (Edited publisher abstract)
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Family Connections program for caregivers of youth with mental health challenges, part I: a quantitative analysis
- Authors:
- BORITZ Tali Z., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health Expectations, 24(2), 2021, pp.578-588. Online only
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Introduction: Caregivers of youth with mental health (MH) challenges are often faced with complex problems in relation to caring for their youth. Family Connections™ (FC) is a 12‐week skills training program for families of individuals with MH challenges, developed originally for Borderline Personality Disorder. Research is needed to examine the effectiveness of FC for caregivers of youth with diverse MH challenges. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of FC for caregivers of youth with MH challenges. Methods: A total of 94 caregivers of youth with MH challenges participated in FC, across three sites in Ontario, Canada. Assessments occurred at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and follow‐up. Primary outcomes include the Burden Assessment Scale and The Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents. Secondary outcomes included the caregiver's report of child behaviour, affect, mastery, coping and grief. Linear mixed model analyses were conducted, where time and the time × site interaction were defined as the fixed effects. Results: Statistically significant improvements over time were observed across outcome measures, including caregiver burden, grief, coping, and other measures. The time × site interaction was only significant for burden (P = .005). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of FC for caregivers of youth with MH challenges. Future research should focus on differences across geographical sites and facilitation models. Patient or public contribution: Caregivers were involved in the facilitation of FC. A person with lived experience was involved in analysing the data, reporting the results, and drafting the manuscript. (Edited publisher abstract)
Evaluation of the REP project: the Rossie-Elms mental health and well-being project
- Authors:
- LERPINIERE Jennifer, et al
- Publisher:
- Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 53p.
- Place of publication:
- Glasgow
The Rossie/Elms Project (REP) is a specialist mental health project providing services to young people looked after in Rossie Secure Accommodation Services and the Elms Secure Unit. The key elements of the mental health service were to promote good mental health and wellbeing, to identify and provide needed therapeutic interventions for young people in secure care, to provide specialist advice and consultancy to staff in order to improve assessment, care planning and the delivery of secure care. The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluation of the REP project’s work in addressing issues in young people’s mental health within a secure care setting. The evaluation explored young people’s and staff perceptions of the REP Project and the effectiveness of the REP Project.
Adolescent mental health: a systematic review on the effectiveness of school-based interventions
- Authors:
- CLARKE Aleisha, et al
- Publisher:
- Early Intervention Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 87
- Place of publication:
- London
This report reviews the latest evidence on school-based mental health interventions, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of what works, for whom and under what circumstances in relation to interventions that enhance mental health, prevent mental health difficulties and prevent behavioural difficulties. The report sets out the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for: promotion – interventions to enhance mental health and wellbeing including social and emotional learning interventions, positive psychology interventions, mindfulness-based interventions, positive youth development interventions, and mental health literacy interventions; prevention – interventions to prevent mental health difficulties including anxiety and depression prevention interventions, and suicide prevention interventions; behaviour – interventions to prevent behavioural difficulties including aggression and violence prevention interventions, bullying prevention interventions, and sexual violence prevention interventions. Key findings include: universal social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions have good evidence of enhancing young people’s social and emotional skills and reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in the short term; there is good evidence that universal and targeted cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions are effective in reducing internalising symptoms in young people; there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of school-based interventions designed to prevent suicide and self-harm; violence prevention interventions have been shown to have a small but positive effect on aggressive behaviour in the short term; bullying prevention interventions are effective in reducing the frequency of traditional and cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration; there is promising evidence on the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce sexual violence and harassment when delivered to young people at risk of experiencing sexual violence; the impact of depression and anxiety prevention interventions and violence prevention interventions tends be stronger when they are targeted at young people with elevated but subclinical symptoms. There are a limited number of interventions interventions specifically designed for and evaluated with minority ethnic groups. (Edited publisher abstract)
The process of establishing Discovery College in Melbourne
- Authors:
- HOPKINS Liza, FOSTER Andrew, NIKITIN Lara
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 22(4), 2018, pp.187-194.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand and inform the development and implementation of a newly established Discovery College (a youth-focused Recovery College). It also aims to contribute to a broader understanding of the benefits and barriers to establishing Recovery Colleges. Design/methodology/approach: The overall study took a mixed-methods approach to the evaluation of Discovery College, including a qualitative process evaluation component as well as a mixed-methods outcomes evaluation. This paper reports on the findings of the process evaluation, which undertook key informant interviews with a range of stakeholders in the implementation process. Findings: A total of 16 themes emerged from the qualitative data, which were then clustered into four main areas: establishing Discovery College, organisational context, nature of Discovery College and service transformation. Implementation was reported as both feasible and effective. Initial tension between fidelity to the model and a pragmatic approach to action was negotiated during implementation and through an ability of staff to tolerate uncertainty, enabled by the efforts and support of senior service management and college staff. Originality/value: Recovery Colleges co-designed and implemented in youth mental health services are a recent development in the field of mental health care and very little has previously been published regarding the feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of youth-focused Recovery Colleges. This paper is one of the first to assess the barriers and enablers to the implementation of Discovery College within a clinical youth mental health service. (Edited publisher abstract)
Investigation of the reach and effectiveness of a mentoring program for youth receiving outpatient mental health services
- Authors:
- DUBOIS David L., HERRERA Carla, HIGLEY Elizabeth
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 2018, pp.85-93.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
This research investigated the reach and effectiveness of Great Life Mentoring (GLM), a program for youth receiving outpatient mental health services in which community volunteers are paired with participating youth in one-to-one mentoring relationships. Study participants included 91 youth served by GLM over an approximately 15-year period and a randomly selected sample of 400 youth who received mental health care from the same agency but did not participate in GLM. Although youth involved in GLM were similar to their peers on most assessed characteristics, they also differed in some ways at initiation of treatment services. For example, GLM-served youth were younger, more likely to be from a very-low-income family, and more likely to have a primary diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a secondary diagnosis. The average duration of the mentoring relationships established for the 91 GLM youth, including both those that had ended and those that were still ongoing, was about three years (M = 35.49 months), with only a small percentage (7.7%) having ended in less than one year. Longer-term mentoring relationships were predicted by being from a low-income family (rather than a very-low-income family), having a mentor with a higher education level, and not having a primary diagnosis of ADHD. When comparing change over time on clinician-ratings on the Children's Global Assessment of Functioning for propensity-score-matched groups of GLM (n = 66) and non-GLM (n = 66) youth, the GLM youth showed significantly more favourable change than their matched counterparts after the point in time at which they were paired with a mentor through the program. Relative to their matched counterparts, GLM youth also were less likely to have an unplanned and client-initiated ending of treatment (33.9% vs. 56.3%) and more likely to have a planned ending of treatment (32.3% vs. 18.8%). (Edited publisher abstract)
Improving outcomes for at-risk youth: findings from the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program
- Authors:
- RAPP-PAGLICCI Lisa, STEWART Chris, ROWE William
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 9(5), October 2012, pp.512-523.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The Prodigy Cultural Arts Program comprises cultural art classes with a skill based curriculum targeted at at-risk youth and those diverted from the juvenile justice system. The classes are used to build social skills, anger management, and problems solving skills. The programme runs for 8 weeks with the youth attending 3 hours per week. A quasi experimental pre- and posttest was conducted to evaluate programme effects on participant’s mental health symptoms. The sample comprised 140 adolescents aged 8-18 years who entered the programme between March 2007 and March 2008. Most of the sample (77%) had been adjudicated by the state juvenile system. The findings showed a significant reduction in mental health symptoms (particularly for females) and behavioural dysregulation (particularly for males), and increases in academic performance and family functioning. There was also a relationship between decreased mental health symptomology and perceived academic performance. The article concludes that the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program appears to be successful in intervening with youth who present challenges to the juvenile justice system due to the complexity of their mental health symptoms and behavioural regulation difficulties.
Family-based crisis intervention with suicidal adolescents in the emergency room: a pilot study
- Authors:
- WHARFF Elizabeth A., GINNIS Katherine M., ROSS Abigail M.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work: A journal of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 57(2), April 2012, pp.133-143.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Suicidality in adolescents is the most significant factor in the majority of paediatric emergency room (ER) visits for behaviour health concerns. Current standard practice for psychiatric patients in the ER is evaluation and disposition, with little or no treatment provided. This article describes the results of a pilot study of a family-based crisis intervention (FBCI) for suicidal adolescents and their families in a large, urban paediatric ER. FBCI is designed to sufficiently stabilise patients within a single ER visit so that they can return home safely with their families. A sample of 67 suicidal adolescents and their families who presented at the ER from January 2001-June 2002 participated in the study. Demographic and clinical characteristics and disposition outcomes from the sample were compared with those obtained retrospectively from a matched comparison group. The findings showed that patients in the FBCI group were significantly less likely to be hospitalised than were those in the comparison group (36% versus 55%). Only 2 of the patients in the FBCI cohort were hospitalised immediately after receiving the intervention during their ER visit. The article concludes that FBCI with suicidal adolescents and their families during a single ER visit is feasible and safely limits the need for inpatient psychiatric hospitalisation.
Supporting young people with mental health problems: lessons from a voluntary sector pilot
- Authors:
- THOMAS Nigel, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Review Journal, 17(1), 2012, pp.14-25.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The Uthink project was a pilot service run by the mental health charity Rethink in 3 areas of England between 2008 and 2010. The aim of the project was to deliver and test a range of activity-based programmes to promote positive mental health and recovery in young people aged 16-25 years. This paper describes an evaluation which aimed to understand the success of the project in the context of other local services. The study used multiple methods of data collection including observation, interview and group discussion with service providers and users in order to build a picture of the relationships between context, mechanism and outcome. The findings are discussed from the viewpoints of the different groups of participants: project workers; other professionals; and programme participants. In many respects the story they tell is a consistent one, with most of the participants finding that the work done by the project was a source of hope and potentially transformative. The most notable difference was the perception as to whether it complemented or challenged existing statutory services. The findings show that a recovery-based approach to providing services for young people has considerable potential and can provide an alternative to more conventional services.
‘They don’t treat you like a virus’: youth-friendly lessons from the Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation
- Authors:
- MUIR Kirsty, POWELL Abigail, MCDERMOTT Shannon
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(2), March 2012, pp.181-189.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Over ten years ago the World Health Organisation developed a youth-friendly framework for services to use as a way of reducing barriers to accessing services. Yet, this framework has rarely been evaluated against health initiatives for young people. Drawing on 168 semi-structured, qualitative interviews with young service users, this paper explores the extent to which the Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation, also called headspace, applied the WHO’s youth-friendly framework. The Framework emphasises accessibility, acceptability and appropriateness (AAA). Using the perspectives of service users, the study examines how youth-friendly the headspace service model is and the practical lessons that can be learnt. It argues that headspace was largely successful in implementing an AAA youth-friendly service and provides evidence of the importance of tailoring services to ensure they are accessible, acceptable and appropriate for young people. However, it also raises questions about what youth-friendly service provision means for different young people at different times. The findings suggest that youth friendliness should be applied across different stages of interaction (at initial engagement and in the ongoing relationship between patient and clinician) and at different levels (the environment the care is provided in, within policies and procedures and within and between relationships from receptionists to clinicians).