The utility of pre-assessment standardised diagnosis in child and adolescent mental health services

• Register: ISRCTN
• Last refreshed on: 24 July 2017
• Main ID: ISRCTN31394658
• Date of registration: 23/11/2005
• Prospective Registration: Yes
• Primary sponsor: King's College London (UK)
• Public title: The utility of pre-assessment standardised diagnosis in child and adolescent mental health services
• Scientific title: The utility of pre-assessment standardised diagnosis in child and adolescent mental health services
• Date of first enrolment: 01/03/2006
• Target sample size: 500
• Recruitment status: Completed
• URL: http://isrctn.com/ISRCTN31394658
• Study type: Interventional
• Study design: Randomised controlled trial (Not Specified)
• Phase: Not Specified

Countries of recruitment

United Kingdom

Contacts

• Name: Tamsin Ford

Key inclusion & exclusion criteria

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.
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.

Age minimum:
Age maximum:
Gender: Both

Health Condition(s) or Problem(s) studied

Childhood psychiatric disorders
Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Psychiatric disorders

Intervention(s)

Current interventions as of 27/06/2017:
Practitioners assessing and treating children in the intervention were provided with a copy of the standardised diagnostic assessment (the DAWBA www.dawba.info) in the clinic notes – children in the control arm had assessment and treatment as normal – follow up was by questionnaire to the treating CAMHS practitioner and parents at six, 12, 18 and 24 months after baseline – obviously practitioners could only report while the child was still attending the clinic.

Previous interventions:
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).

Primary Outcome(s)

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(s)

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.

Secondary ID(s)

N/A

Source(s) of Monetary Support

Medical Research Council (MRC) (UK)