None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The long term costs of mental illness in children and adolescents are considerable and long lasting, yet services often do not deliver the best available treatment because of practical difficulties with current evidence based therapies (EBTs). MATCH (Modular Approach to Therapy for Children and Adolescent with anxiety, depression, trauma related symptoms and disruptive behaviour) is a new flexible modular system that combines EBTs for common mental health problems. MATCH has been developed by Professor John Weisz and his team in the USA. Prof Weisz is a world leading expert in EBTs. MATCH has been shown to be more effective than usual care in a large clinical trial (Weisz et al., 2012, Archives of General Psychiatry, 29(3)). Training in MATCH is relatively brief. Our main objective is to improve the clinical outcomes of children and adolescents attending participating mental health services in New Zealand. We will carry out a rigorous real world clinical trial (a randomised controlled trial/RCT) to evaluate MATCH in the NZ context. We will train CAMHS clinicians in MATCH. The control group of clinicians will deliver usual care. We will evaluate which group delivers more EBT and better mental health outcomes for children and adolescents. Our study design ensures that we can show effectiveness separately for Maori and Pacific children. If results are positive we will work towards implementing national training in MATCH.
Interventions
MATCH (intervention) consists of a manual and a training package (i.e. five days of block training and a year of weekly telephone/Skype consultation sessions (60 minutes in duration) from a MATCH trainer to support clinicians in the use of MATCH). MATCH was specifically designed to combine the effective elements of the evidence based therapies (EBTs) for anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms and disruptive behaviour in one protocol, cater for co-morbidity and provide an opportunity to add
MATCH (intervention) consists of a manual and a training package (i.e. five days of block training and a year of weekly telephone/Skype consultation sessions (60 minutes in duration) from a MATCH trainer to support clinicians in the use of MATCH). MATCH was specifically designed to combine the effective elements of the evidence based therapies (EBTs) for anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms and disruptive behaviour in one protocol, cater for co-morbidity and provide an opportunity to address different disorders that may emerge during therapy. MATCH is comprised of 33 modules/specific treatment procedures which can be organised in a flexible manner. Children/adolescents and their families are also given an integral role in defining the goals of therapy. Clinicians use a web-based system (specifically developed for this study) to monitor progress and adapt therapy in consultation with a child/adolescent and their family until a problem is resolved. MATCH provides flexibility for the clinician to use a selection of modules depending on the needs of the child and his/her family. To guide the selection of modules, clinicians monitor progress and use MATCH flowcharts to identify which modules are required. All sessions are done face-to-face and are one-on-one with the child or his/her family. There is no standard duration of treatment. Sessions typically last between 45 and 60 minutes and are usually weekly (depending on the individual clinic and the child/family's circumstances). Not all modules need to be administered for every child/family. To monitor adherence to the treatment protocol, all sessions will be audio-recorded and a sample of these recordings will be coded to ascertain the content. Clinicians will also be required to keep a log of their therapy sessions and treatment approaches (use of modules) will be discussed in weekly Skype supervision.
Sponsors
Health Research Council (HRC)
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to 14 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children and adolescents will be eligible for inclusion in the trial if: 1) They are newly referred to a participating CAMHS with a primary disorder that includes anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms or disruptive behaviour; 2) They are 7 to 14 years of age on the date of consent; 3) They are able to provide written consent (or verbal assent) and have written parental/guardian consent; and, 4) The child and their parent/guardian can speak English or there is a clinician who can provide the necessary treatment, according to the treatment arm the participant is randomised to, in the family’s native language.
Exclusion criteria
Children and adolescent will be ineligible for inclusion in the trial if: 1) They are currently receiving other treatment for their disorder from the CAMHS (or another service); or, 2) They do not have a primary disorder of psychosis, severe intellectual disability, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (where the primary reason for referral is inattention and/or over-activity), autism or other pervasive developmental disorder, anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa; 3) The young person is acutely suicidal; or, 4) They have a sibling that has previously been recruited into the study.
Outcome results
None listed