Research Library

This review aimed to identify modes of delivery used in children and young people's digital mental health interventions, explore influencing factors to usage and implementation, and investigate ways in which the interventions have been evaluated and whether children and young people engage in digital health interventions. Authors: Liverpool, S., Mota, C. P., Sales, C.M.D., Čuš, A., Carletto, S., Hancheva, C., Sousa, S., Cerón, S. C., Moreno-Peral, P., Pietrabissa, G., Moltrecht, B., Ulberg, R., Ferreira, N., & Edbrooke-Childs J. (2020).

Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for adolescent depression has demonstrated efficacy in previous trials. In order to broaden the range of evidence-based treatments for young people, we evaluated a newly developed affect-focused internet-based psychodynamic treatment in a previous study with promising results. Authors: Mechler, J., Lindqvist, K., Carlbring, P. et al. (2020).

Mental health difficulties in young people are increasing, and there is a need for evidence on the effectiveness of digital interventions to increase opportunities for supporting mental health in young people. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an mHealth intervention (ReZone) in reducing mental health difficulties in young people. Authors: Edridge, C., Wolpert, M., Deighton, J., & Edbrooke-Childs, J. (2020).

The potential for harm to occur from talking therapies has been acknowledged in academic literature. However, there is a paucity of research when it comes to exploring this phenomenon when working with young patients. This study explores clinicians’ perspectives on harm from talking therapies when working with children and young people. Authors: Castro Batic, B., & Hayes, D. (2022).

Access to timely care is a quality standard underpinning many international healthcare models, and long waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services are often reported as a barrier to help-seeking. The aim of this study was to examine whether young people with more severe problems have shorter waiting times for mental health services. Authors: Edbrooke-Childs, J., Deighton, J. (2020).

Children spend a large amount of time in schools, making schools an important context for mental health prevention and support. We examine how school composition and school climate, controlling for individual child-level characteristics, are associated with children's mental health difficulties (emotional and behavioural difficulties). Authors: Patalay, P., O'Neill, E., Deighton, J., & Fink., E. (2020).

Symptom improvement is often examined as an indicator of a good outcome of accessing mental health services. However, there is little evidence of whether symptom improvement is associated with other indicators of a good outcome, such as a mutual agreement to end treatment. The aim of this study was to examine whether young people accessing mental health services who meaningfully improved were more likely to mutually agree to end treatment. Authors: Edbrooke-Childs, J., Costa da Silva, L., Čuš, A., Liverpool, S., Pinheiro Mota, C., Pietrabissa, G., Bardsley, T., Sales, C. M. D., Ulberg, R., Jacob, J., & Ferreira, N. (2021).

Reviews around interventions to improve shared decision making (SDM) for child and youth mental health have produced inconclusive findings on what approaches increase participation. Importantly, the previous reviews did not explore the use of theory, as well as mechanisms of change (intervention functions) and active units of change (behaviour change techniques). The aim of this review was to explore these factors and ascertain how, if at all, these contribute to SDM. Authors: Hayes, D., Edbrooke-Childs, J., Town, R., Wolpert, M. & Midgley, N. (2021).

The recording of harm and adverse events in psychological trials is essential, yet the types of harm being captured in trials for talking treatments involving children and young people have not been systematically investigated. The aim of this review was to determine how often harm and adverse events are recorded in talking treatments for children and young people, as well as the metrics that are being collected. Authors: Hayes, D., Za'ba, N. (2021).