Making cities mental health friendly for adolescents and young adults.

Urban life shapes the mental health of city dwellers, and although cities provide access to health, education and economic gain, urban environments are often detrimental to mental health1,2. Increasing urbanization over the next three decades will be accompanied by a growing population of children and adolescents living in cities3. Shaping the aspects of urban life that influence youth mental health could have an enormous impact on adolescent well-being and adult trajectories4. We invited a multidisciplinary, global group of researchers, practitioners, advocates and young people to complete sequential surveys to identify and prioritize the characteristics of a mental health-friendly city for young people. Here we show a set of ranked characteristic statements, grouped by personal, interpersonal, community, organizational, policy and environmental domains of intervention. Life skills for personal development, valuing and accepting young people's ideas and choices, providing safe public space for social connection, employment and job security, centring youth input in urban planning and design, and addressing adverse social determinants were priorities by domain. We report the adversities that COVID-19 generated and link relevant actions to these data. Our findings highlight the need for intersectoral, multilevel intervention and for inclusive, equitable, participatory design of cities that support youth mental health.

What treatment outcomes matter in adolescent depression? A Q-study of priority profiles among mental health practitioners in the UK and Chile.

Evidence-based and person-centred care requires the measurement of treatment outcomes that matter to youth and mental health practitioners. Priorities, however, may vary not just between but also within stakeholder groups. This study used Q-methodology to explore differences in outcome priorities among mental health practitioners from two countries in relation to youth depression. Practitioners from the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 27) and Chile (n = 15) sorted 35 outcome descriptions by importance and completed brief semi-structured interviews about their sorting rationale. By-person principal component analysis (PCA) served to identify distinct priority profiles within each country sample; second-order PCA examined whether these profiles could be further reduced into cross-cultural "super profiles". We identified three UK outcome priority profiles (Reduced symptoms and enhanced well-being; improved individual coping and self-management; improved family coping and support), and two Chilean profiles (Strengthened identity and enhanced insight; symptom reduction and self-management). These could be further reduced into two cross-cultural super profiles: one prioritized outcomes related to reduced depressive symptoms and enhanced well-being; the other prioritized outcomes related to improved resilience resources within youth and families. A practitioner focus on symptom reduction aligns with a long-standing focus on symptomatic change in youth depression treatment studies, and with recent measurement recommendations. Less data and guidance are available to those practitioners who prioritize resilience outcomes. To raise the chances that such practitioners will engage in evidence-based practice and measurement-based care, measurement guidance for a broader set of outcomes may be needed.

Using Progress Feedback to Enhance Treatment Outcomes: A Narrative Review.

We face increasing demand for greater access to effective routine mental health services, including telehealth. However, treatment outcomes in routine clinical practice are only about half the size of those reported in controlled trials. Progress feedback, defined as the ongoing monitoring of patients' treatment response with standardized measures, is an evidence-based practice that continues to be under-utilized in routine care. The aim of the current review is to provide a summary of the current evidence base for the use of progress feedback, its mechanisms of action and considerations for successful implementation. We reviewed ten available meta-analyses, which report small to medium overall effect sizes. The results suggest that adding feedback to a wide range of psychological and psychiatric interventions (ranging from primary care to hospitalization and crisis care) tends to enhance the effectiveness of these interventions. The strongest evidence is for patients with common mental health problems compared to those with very severe disorders. Effect sizes for not-on-track cases, a subgroup of cases that are not progressing well, are found to be somewhat stronger, especially when clinical support tools are added to the feedback. Systematic reviews and recent studies suggest potential mechanisms of action for progress feedback include focusing the clinician's attention, altering clinician expectations, providing new information, and enhancing patient-centered communication. Promising approaches to strengthen progress feedback interventions include advanced systems with signaling technology, clinical problem-solving tools, and a broader spectrum of outcome and progress measures. An overview of methodological and implementation challenges is provided, as well as suggestions for addressing these issues in future studies. We conclude that while feedback has modest effects, it is a small and affordable intervention that can potentially improve outcomes in psychological interventions. Further research into mechanisms of action and effective implementation strategies is needed.

What treatment outcomes matter most? A Q-study of outcome priority profiles among youth with lived experience of depression.

Interest in youth perspectives on what constitutes an important outcome in the treatment of depression has been growing, but limited attention has been given to heterogeneity in outcome priorities, and minority viewpoints. These are important to consider for person-centred outcome tracking in clinical practice, or when conducting clinical trials targeting specific populations. This study used Q-methodology to identify outcome priority profiles among youth with lived experience of service use for depression. A purposive sample of 28 youth (aged 16-21 years) rank-ordered 35 outcome statements by importance and completed brief semi-structured interviews eliciting their sorting rationales. By-person principal component analysis was used to identify outcome priority profiles based on all Q-sort configurations. Priority profiles were described and interpreted with reference to the qualitative interview data. Four distinct outcome priority profiles were identified: "Relieving distress and experiencing a happier emotional state"; "Learning to cope with cyclical distressing emotional states"; "Understanding and processing distressing emotional states"; and "Reduced interference of ongoing distressing emotional states with daily life". All four profiles prioritised improvements in mood and the ability to feel pleasure but differed in the level of importance assigned to learning coping skills, processing experiences, and the reduced interference of depression with life and identity. As part of a person-centered approach to care delivery, care providers should routinely engage young people in conversation and shared decision-making about the types of change they would like to prioritise and track during treatment, beyond a common core of consensus outcomes.

A systematic review of shared decision making interventions in child and youth mental health: synthesising the use of theory, intervention functions, and behaviour change techniques.

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. Five databases were searched up until April 2020. Studies met inclusion criteria if they were: (a) an intervention to facilitate SDM; (b) aimed at children, adolescence, or young people aged up to 25, with a mental health difficulty, or their parents/guardians; and (c) included a control group. Data were extracted on patient characteristics, study design, intervention, theoretical background, intervention functions, behaviour change techniques, and SDM. Quality assessment of the studies was undertaken using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool. Eight different interventions met inclusion criteria. The role of theory to increase SDM remains unclear. Specific intervention functions, such as 'education' on SDM and treatment options and 'environmental restructuring' using decision aids, are being used in SDM interventions, as well as 'training' for clinicians. Similarly, behaviour change techniques linked to these, such as 'adding objects to the environment', 'discussing pros/cons', and clinicians engaging in 'behavioural practice/rehearsal'. However, as most studies scored low on the quality assessment criteria, as well as a small number of studies included and a low number of behaviour change techniques utilised, links between behaviour change techniques, intervention functions and increased participation remain tentative. Intervention developers and clinicians may wish to consider specific intervention functions and behaviour change techniques to facilitate SDM.

The importance of shared research goals for a world in which no one is held back by mental health problems.

The importance of shared research goals for a world in which no one is held back by mental health problems.

Applying behaviour change theory to understand the barriers to implementing routine outcome monitoring.

BACKGROUND: Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is a valuable tool for monitoring client progress and pre-empting deterioration, however, there is considerable variation in how data are collected and recorded and uptake in clinical practice remains low. The aim of this study was to develop a self-report measure of practitioner attitudes to ROM in order to better understand the barriers to successful implementation in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). METHODS: An anonymous survey was completed by 184 CAMHS practitioners in the United Kingdom. The survey was designed using the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation Model of Behaviour (COM-B). Practitioners who reported using ROM frequently in their clinical work (53%) were compared to those who used ROM infrequently (47%) across dimensions of the COM-B survey subscales. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the proposed four-factor structure, showing acceptable model fit, with high factor loadings and good reliability for all subscales. Frequent users of ROM exhibited significantly higher psychological capability, physical opportunity, social opportunity, and motivation, compared to infrequent users F (4, 140) = 14.76, p < .0001; Pillai's Trace = .297, partial η2 = .30. Results highlight several barriers to ROM, including the belief that there is not a strong evidence base for ROM, not receiving external training, and not discussing feedback and outcome data in supervision. IMPLICATIONS: In the hope of improving the successful implementation of ROM, this research provides an evidence-based tool for assessing practitioners' attitudes to ROM, which map on to intervention functions and represent targets for future implementation efforts. PRACTITIONER POINTS: The value of routine outcome monitoring (ROM) as a means to measure client progress and to elevate the efficiency and quality of mental health care is well-documented in the research literature, however, uptake in practice remains relatively low. This study applied behaviour change theory to develop a psychometrically sound self-report measure of practitioners' perspectives and practices to understand the barriers to implementation in child and adolescent mental health services in the United Kingdom. The complex and multifaceted nature of the barriers to implementation requires multilevel behaviour change strategies at the client, clinician, and organisational level. Recommendations for practice include the need for integrated, multilevel strategies aimed at improving practitioners' capabilities and motivations, strong organisational leadership and a culture of data gathering and sharing, and implementation interventions, which are tailored to target local barriers.

Are We Comparing Apples with Oranges? Assessing Improvement Across Symptoms, Functioning, and Goal Progress for Adolescent Anxiety and Depression.

Strategies for comparing routinely collected outcome data across services or systems include focusing on a common indicator (e.g., symptom change) or aggregating results from different measures or outcomes into a comparable core metric. The implications of either approach for judging treatment success are not fully understood. This study drew on naturalistic outcome data from 1641 adolescents with moderate or severe anxiety and/or depression symptoms who received routine specialist care across 60 mental health services in England. The study compared rates of meaningful improvement between the domains of internalizing symptoms, functioning, and progress towards self-defined goals. Consistent cross-domain improvement was observed in only 15.6% of cases. Close to one in four (24.0%) young people with reliably improved symptoms reported no reliable improvement in functioning. Inversely, one in three (34.8%) young people reported meaningful goal progress but no reliable symptom improvement. Monitoring systems that focus exclusively on symptom change risk over- or under-estimating actual impact, while aggregating different outcomes into a single metric can mask informative differences in the number and type of outcomes showing improvement. A move towards harmonized outcome measurement approaches across multiple domains is needed to ensure fair and meaningful comparisons.

How to manage endings in unsuccessful therapy: A qualitative comparison of youth and clinician perspectives.

Background: Approximately half of those who access child and adolescent mental health services do not show measurable improvement in symptoms. This study aimed to provide practice recommendations for managing treatment endings, particularly when outcomes have not improved. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 26 young people with a history of anxiety and/or depression along with 7 roundtable sessions with 52 mental health clinicians. Data were analyzed using Framework Analysis. Results: A common experience for young people when outcomes did not improve was a poor experience of the treatment ending, which often resulted in setbacks in their mental health and feelings of loss and abandonment. Clinicians agreed that ending was hard for young people and reported that they found managing ending hard on a personal and professional level. This was compounded by unrealistically high public expectations about the impact of therapy on outcomes and trying to strike a balance between fostering hope and managing expectations, within a context of inflexible service structures and resource constraint. Implications: Recommendations include establishing expectations from the outset and a shared understanding of what outcomes matter most to the young person. This can be achieved through communicating honestly about likely outcomes, while also providing hope.

A scoping review and assessment of essential elements of shared decision-making of parent-involved interventions in child and adolescent mental health.

Parents play a critical role in child and adolescent mental health care and treatment. With the increasing implementation of shared decision-making (SDM) across health settings, there is a growing need to understand the decision support interventions used to promote SDM in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). The overall aim of this review is to identify and examine the existing decision support interventions available for parents. A broad search was conducted using the key concepts "shared decision-making", "parents" and "child and adolescent mental health". Five electronic databases were searched: PsycInfo, Embase, Medline, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. In addition to these relevant databases, we searched the Ottawa's Inventory of Decision Aids, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario website, Google, Google Play and known CAMHS' websites. The search identified 23 interventions available for use with parents. These interventions targeted parents providing care for children with ADHD, ASD, emotional and behavioural problems including depression (EBD), self-harm or universal mental health care. Various modalities including face-to-face, digital and paper-based versions were adopted. The majority of the interventions were able to "present options" (87%) and "discuss the pros and cons" (83%) of treatment. Time, accessibility and appropriateness of the intervention emerged as factors influencing usage and implementation of interventions. Our findings suggest that SDM interventions involving parents have been implemented differently across various presenting mental health difficulties in CAMHS. This review brings awareness of existing parent-involved interventions and has implications for the development, implementation and usage of new interventions.

Generalized linear mixed-model (GLMM) trees: A flexible decision-tree method for multilevel and longitudinal data.

Objective: Decision-tree methods are machine-learning methods which provide results that are relatively easy to interpret and apply by human decision makers. The resulting decision trees show how baseline patient characteristics can be combined to predict treatment outcomes for individual patients, for example. This paper introduces GLMM trees, a decision-tree method for multilevel and longitudinal data. Method: To illustrate, we apply GLMM trees to a dataset of 3,256 young people (mean age 11.33, 48% girls) receiving treatment at one of several mental-health service providers in the UK. Two treatment outcomes (mental-health difficulties scores corrected for baseline) were regressed on 18 demographic, case and severity characteristics at baseline. We compared the performance of GLMM trees with that of traditional GLMMs and random forests. Results: GLMM trees yielded modest predictive accuracy, with cross-validated multiple R values of .18 and .25. Predictive accuracy did not differ significantly from that of traditional GLMMs and random forests, while GLMM trees required evaluation of a lower number of variables. Conclusion: GLMM trees provide a useful data-analytic tool for clinical prediction problems. The supplemental material provides a tutorial for replicating the GLMM tree analyses in R.

An mHealth Intervention (ReZone) to Help Young People Self-Manage Overwhelming Feelings: Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: 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. Such studies are complicated due to issues of implementation and adoption, outcome measurement, and appropriate study designs. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an mHealth intervention (ReZone) in reducing mental health difficulties in young people. METHODS: The cluster-randomized controlled trial enrolled 409 participants aged 10-15 years, and classes were allocated to ReZone or management as usual. Self-reported questionnaires were completed at baseline and 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the ReZone condition and management as usual in the self-reported outcome measures. However, there were 3467 usage sessions, which corresponds to 16.9 times per student (total of 205 students) in classes allocated to ReZone. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential to publish studies that do not show significant differences, as these findings can still contribute to the literature, help in learning, and inform the direction of future work. The results reported in this paper could be due to a range of reasons, including whether ReZone has the scope to impact change or limitations related to the setting, context, and appropriateness of an RCT. The findings of this study suggest that ReZone was implemented and adopted. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/resprot.7019.

The Child Outcome Rating Scale: validating a four-item measure of psychosocial functioning in community and clinic samples of children aged 10-15.

Psychosocial functioning is considered an important and valued outcome in relation to young people's mental health as a construct distinct from psychiatric symptomology, especially in the light of an increasing focus on transdiagnostic approaches. Yet, the level of psychosocial functioning is rarely directly asked of young people themselves, despite the widespread recognition that the young person's perspective is valuable and is often at odds with those of other reporters, such as parents or professionals. One possible reason for this is that the field lacks a clear agreed tool to capture this information in a non-burdensome way. To begin to address this gap, this paper describes psychometric analysis of the Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS), a brief and highly accessible self-report measure of young people's psychosocial functioning already used extensively by mental health professionals around the world but with only limited data on psychometric robustness. Using large community (n = 7822) and clinic (n = 2604) samples, we explore the factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency, differential item functioning, and sensitivity of the CORS. We found that the CORS stands up to psychometric scrutiny, having found satisfactory levels of reliability, validity, and sensitivity in this sample. We also found that the CORS is suitable for use with young people as old as 15 years old. That the CORS has been found to be psychometrically robust while being highly feasible (brief, simple, easy to administer) for use in busy clinical settings, combined with the fact that the CORS has already been widely adopted by clinicians and young people, suggests CORS may be an important tool for international use.

Predicting mental health improvement and deterioration in a large community sample of 11- to 13-year-olds.

Of children with mental health problems who access specialist help, 50% show reliable improvement on self-report measures at case closure and 10% reliable deterioration. To contextualise these figures it is necessary to consider rates of improvement for those in the general population. This study examined rates of reliable improvement/deterioration for children in a school sample over time. N = 9074 children (mean age 12; 52% female; 79% white) from 118 secondary schools across England provided self-report mental health (SDQ), quality of life and demographic data (age, ethnicity and free school meals (FSM) at baseline and 1 year and self-report data on access to mental health support at 1 year). Multinomial logistic regressions and classification trees were used to analyse the data. Of 2270 (25%) scoring above threshold for mental health problems at outset, 27% reliably improved and 9% reliably deteriorated at 1-year follow up. Of 6804 (75%) scoring below threshold, 4% reliably improved and 12% reliably deteriorated. Greater emotional difficulties at outset were associated with greater rates of reliable improvement for both groups (above threshold group: OR = 1.89, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.64, 2.17], below threshold group: OR = 2.23, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.93, 2.57]). For those above threshold, higher baseline quality of life was associated with greater likelihood of reliable improvement (OR = 1.28, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.13, 1.46]), whilst being in receipt of FSM was associated with reduced likelihood of reliable improvement (OR = 0.68, p < 0.01, 95% CI [0.53, 0.88]). For the group below threshold, being female was associated with increased likelihood of reliable deterioration (OR = 1.20, p < 0.025, 95% CI [1.00, 1.42]), whereas being from a non-white ethnic background was associated with decreased likelihood of reliable deterioration (OR = 0.66, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.54, 0.80]). For those above threshold, almost one in three children showed reliable improvement at 1 year. The extent of emotional difficulties at outset showed the highest associations with rates of reliable improvement.

Developing a case mix classification for child and adolescent mental health services: the influence of presenting problems, complexity factors and service providers on number of appointments.

Background: Case-mix classification is a focus of international attention in considering how best to manage and fund services, by providing a basis for fairer comparison of resource utilization. Yet there is little evidence of the best ways to establish case mix for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).Aim: To develop a case mix classification for CAMHS that is clinically meaningful and predictive of number of appointments attended and to investigate the influence of presenting problems, context and complexity factors and provider variation.Method: We analysed 4573 completed episodes of outpatient care from 11 English CAMHS. Cluster analysis, regression trees and a conceptual classification based on clinical best practice guidelines were compared regarding their ability to predict number of appointments, using mixed effects negative binomial regression.Results: The conceptual classification is clinically meaningful and did as well as data-driven classifications in accounting for number of appointments. There was little evidence for effects of complexity or context factors, with the possible exception of school attendance problems. Substantial variation in resource provision between providers was not explained well by case mix.Conclusion: The conceptually-derived classification merits further testing and development in the context of collaborative decision making.

Prevalence of mental health problems in schools: poverty and other risk factors among 28 000 adolescents in England.

Current mental health provision for children is based on estimates of one in ten children experiencing mental health problems. This study analyses a large-scale community-based dataset of 28 160 adolescents to explore school-based prevalence of mental health problems and characteristics that predict increased odds of experiencing them. Findings indicate the scale of mental health problems in England is much higher than previous estimates, with two in five young people scoring above thresholds for emotional problems, conduct problems or hyperactivity. Gender, deprivation, child in need status, ethnicity and age were all associated with increased odds of experiencing mental health difficulties. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None.

Mental health and well-being trends among children and young people in the UK, 1995-2014: analysis of repeated cross-sectional national health surveys.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern about the mental health of children and young people (CYP) in the UK, with increasing demand for counselling services, admissions for self-harm and referrals to mental health services. We investigated whether there have been similar recent trends in selected mental health outcomes among CYP in national health surveys from England, Scotland and Wales. METHODS: Data were analysed from 140 830 participants (4-24 years, stratified into 4-12, 13-15, 16-24 years) in 36 national surveys in England, Scotland and Wales, 1995-2014. Regression models were used to examine time trends in seven parent/self-reported variables: general health, any long-standing health condition, long-standing mental health condition; Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score (WEMWBS), above-threshold Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Total (SDQT) score, SDQ Emotion (SDQE) score, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score. RESULTS: Across all participants aged 4-24, long-standing mental health conditions increased in England (0.8-4.8% over 19 years), Scotland (2.3-6.0%, 11 years) and Wales (2.6-4.1%, 7 years) (all p < 0.001). Among young children (4-12 years), the proportion reporting high SDQT and SDQE scores decreased significantly among both boys and girls in England [SDQE: odds ratio (OR) 0.97 (0.96-0.98), p < 0.001] and girls in Scotland [SDQE: OR 0.96 (0.93-0.99), p = 0.005]. The proportion with high SDQE scores (13-15 years) decreased in England [OR 0.98 (0.96-0.99), p = 0.006] but increased in Wales [OR 1.07 (1.03-1.10), p < 0.001]. The proportion with high GHQ scores decreased among English women (16-24 years) [OR 0.98 (0.98-0.99), p = 0.002]. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a striking increase in the reported prevalence of long-standing mental health conditions among UK CYP, there was relatively little change in questionnaire scores reflecting psychological distress and emotional well-being.

Trajectories of change of youth depressive symptoms in routine care: shape, predictors, and service-use implications.

Depression is one of the main reasons for youth accessing mental health services, yet we know little about how symptoms change once youth are in routine care. This study used multilevel modeling to examine the average trajectory of change and the factors associated with change in depressive symptoms in a large sample of youth seen in routine mental health care services in England. Participants were 2336 youth aged 8-18 (mean age 14.52; 77% females; 88% white ethnic background) who tracked depressive symptoms over a period of up to 32 weeks while in contact with mental health services. Explanatory variables were age, gender, whether the case was closed, total length of contact with services, and baseline severity in depression scores. Faster rates of improvement were found in older adolescents, males, those with shorter time in contact with services, closed cases, and those with more severe symptoms at baseline. This study demonstrates that when youth self-report their depressive symptoms during psychotherapy, symptoms decrease in a linear trajectory. Attention should be paid to younger people, females, and those with lower than average baseline scores, as their symptoms decrease at a slower pace compared to others.

A qualitative exploration of the role of leadership in service transformation in child and adolescent mental health services.

BACKGROUND: Recent policy in England has called on services for children and young people's mental health and well-being to develop and deliver local transformation plans to increase the provision of evidence-based, outcomes-informed and service user-informed treatments. The role of local leadership in service transformation is poorly understood, despite evidence suggesting it is key to enacting change. PURPOSE: To understand the role of local leaders and frontline practitioners in service transformation in child and adolescent mental health services. METHODOLOGY: This study was a secondary analysis of semistructured interviews with n = 20 leaders and n = 29 frontline practitioners in child and adolescent mental health services taking part in a service transformation programme. RESULTS: Leaders' role in service transformation in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) was to: (a) foster impetus for transformation by demonstrating passion and commitment for change, (b) support practitioners in developing microsystem improvements and (c) bridging the organisation's goals with available resources. CONCLUSIONS: When developing transformation plans for child and adolescent mental health services, local leaders should be transparent about reasoning and processes, enable practitioners to tailor implementation to need and provide ongoing support. Practitioner engagement needs careful planning given its crucial role in enabling collaboration that will facilitate change.