None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
In earlier work, we contextually adapted an evidence-based brief treatment for common mental disorders (depression, anxiety) to support adolescents (13-19 years old) who are considering seeking or waiting to access mental health services in Western Australia (WA). This is called the "Help while you wait" intervention. It comprises four structured counselling sessions delivered in an individual format by non-clinicians (e.g. youth workers). The intervention is designed to equip adolescents experiencing mental health difficulties with problem-solving strategies and coping skills to help them manage their mental health while they wait for specialist services. Study Aims: This study aims to initially evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and the appropriateness of the intervention from the perspective of adolescents who receive the intervention and the intervention facilitators. We also aim to explore whether intervention yields clinical benefits for adolescents’ psychological distress, emotional regulation and problem solving relative to usual care. Finally, we will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and effectiveness of the training provided to individuals who deliver the intervention. Methods: We will conduct a two-arm randomized hybrid Type 1 implementation-effectiveness pilot trial of the intervention. The intervention will be implemented in youth-focused community services. These services will refer adolescents (13-19 years old) to the research program. We will recruit 80 adolescents who will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention or a usual care comparison condition (waiting lists). The intervention comprises four sessions of individual counselling delivered by trained non-specialist providers. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, six-week, and 10-weeks post-intervention commencement via electronic surveys. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with interventionists, caregivers, and adolescents allocated to the intervention. Primary outcomes will be feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Clinical outcomes (psychological distress) will be collected as secondary outcomes. Participants assigned to usual care will be offered the intervention after their final follow up assessment. Outcomes: Findings will be used to improve the intervention training, the intervention materials and approach, and the implementation strategies and to inform scale-up and wider implementation of the intervention. Other anticipated outputs include short reports and briefs for providers and policymakers; conference presentations and webinars; and peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals
Interventions
The "Help while you wait" intervention represents a contextual adaptation of a brief psychological treatment based on Motivational Interviewing and Problem Solving Therapy which was tested in the Project MIND (PACTR201610001825403) and the ASPIRE (PACTR20200352214510) trials. In previous qualitative work, we conducted workshops and interviews with adolescents, parents and providers to identify aspects of the intervention that need to be adapted to be appropriate for the Australian context and yo
The "Help while you wait" intervention represents a contextual adaptation of a brief psychological treatment based on Motivational Interviewing and Problem Solving Therapy which was tested in the Project MIND (PACTR201610001825403) and the ASPIRE (PACTR20200352214510) trials. In previous qualitative work, we conducted workshops and interviews with adolescents, parents and providers to identify aspects of the intervention that need to be adapted to be appropriate for the Australian context and youth culture. Most of these adaptations have been to visuals, idiom and language, with the core content of the intervention remaining unchanged. In project LYRIC, participants assigned to the intervention condition will be offered four intervention sessions. The duration of each session is approximately 45-60 minutes. Each session is spaced about a week apart. Each session functions iteratively to build readiness to change and adaptive problem-solving and coping skills. All sessions have a motivational component, a psycho-education component, and a problem-solving component. More specifically, participants will be taught a six-step approach for addressing problems that are important and can be solved; emotional regulation strategies for dealing with unwanted thoughts and feelings; and steps for coping with problems that are important but cannot be solved. A client workbook, summarizing the content of the counselling sessions and containing worksheets to practice the problem-solving method, guides the intervention sessions. Participants will receive a PDF version of the Intervention Workbook and login details to access additional supplementary online intervention materials via the study website (www.projectlyric.com) prior to their first session. The online materials are not accessed during the face-to-face sessions but serve as supplementary materials to support skills development. Participants will be encouraged to access these resources outside of their face-to-face sessions. Each session includes take home activities to practice the skills learned between sessions. The additional worksheets and take home activities require approximately 30 minutes of time to complete on a weekly basis. Participants will not be restricted from accessing specialist mental health services or self-help (e.g., online resources) during their participation in the intervention. The program will be delivered by program facilitators including youth workers and psychology students who will receive a minimum of 30 hours training. The training will be delivered by the program developer, a registered psychologist, and supported by other psychologists. Training will occur at least three weeks prior to the enrolment of the first participant to allow time for additional booster training to be provided if necessary and for facilitators to practice delivery of the content. The intervention will be delivered face to face individually with a young person. The intervention will be delivered at selected headspace sites in WA and selected "The Y" youth centres. Training will detail the level of personalisation that is appropriate for the intervention, which is structured with content and activities. Intervention fidelity will be assessed with specific notes written by the program facilitator to describe deviations after the session and in a qualitative interview after intervention completion.
Sponsors
Curtin enAble Institute
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
13 Years to 19 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Adolescents will be eligible for this study if they: i. are 13-19 years of age, ii. Have consent from their primary caregiver to participate (adolescents 13-15 only) or provide consent for their own participation as mature minors (Aged 16 and above), iii. Screen at risk for psychological distress on the K-10 (Scores =20; Kessler et al., 2002), be seeking or on wait lists for mental health services for psychological distress, iii. are able to speak English to complete informed consent and study procedures, Interventionists/facilitators will be eligible to participate if they: i. Complete the required training, demonstrate competency to deliver the intervention, and agree to participate in ongoing supervision, ii. Are able to speak English to complete informed consent and study procedures, and deliver the intervention, and iii. Either have prior experience of working with young people at a youth/ health service, or are currently completing or recently completed a 4th-year honours-degree in Psychology, with some experience providing mental health support services. Caregiver participants must have an adolescent child who is enrolled in the trial and be able to speak English well enough to complete informed consent and study procedures
Exclusion criteria
For adolescent participants, there are two exclusion criteria: (i) individuals who are already engaged mental health service for regular intervention at the time of study recruitment will not be eligible for study participation. (ii) adolescents who are assessed to be at high risk of suicide at the time of study recruitment will not be eligible for study participation and instead will be referred and linked to more appropriate supports. All potential participants will be screened for risk of suicide using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale- Screen version (Cwik et al., 2020) prior to study enrolment.
Outcome results
None listed