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Enhancing Systems of Care: Supporting Families and Improving Youth Outcomes

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Pediatric Mental Health Services
Interventions
Behavioral: Enhanced Systems of Care Team
Registration Number
NCT03637478
Lead Sponsor
Cambridge Health Alliance
Brief Summary

The aim of the study is to improve access to child mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) care by expanding primary care screening and increasing availability of timely mental health evaluation and treatment.

Detailed Description

This is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal study. Identified youth and families will receive the intervention within the four study site clinic locations. Comparison group families will receive usual care. Each primary care study site will have designated Family Support Specialist, Clinical Care Manager and Child Psychiatry resources. The intervention includes an integrated care consultation which combines diagnostic evaluation, family assessment, and multi-disciplinary, team-based treatment recommendations, with follow-up community linkages and support, as indicated.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
171
Inclusion Criteria
  • Must be between ages 0 to 17.5 years
  • Referred by primary care physician at one of these Cambridge Health Alliance clinics: Windsor Street Care Center, Broadway Care Center, Everett Care Center, Malden Family Medicine Center
  • Referred youth must have a caregiver (a parent of guardian) who agrees to participate in the assessment and treatment process
Exclusion Criteria
  • 17.6 years or older

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Enhanced Systems of Care TeamEnhanced Systems of Care TeamThe four intervention sites have been selected based on their size: taken together, their pediatric populations comprise over 80% of the total number of children receiving care at Cambridge Health Alliance. At the four intervention sites, the study will involve: 1) an integrated child mental health assessment done by the E-SOC team within primary care, 2) active follow-up, collaboration with specialty providers and support to families, 3) School, child welfare and other community linkages as appropriate.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Access to child mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) careComparative analysis of access to care trends (0-6 months)

Service Use Data from Electronic Health Records and Claims for intervention group versus controls

Engagement in child mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) treatmentComparative analysis of service use trends (6-12 months)

Service Use Data from Electronic Health Records and Claims for intervention group versus controls

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Changes in Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) ScoreComparative analysis of baseline and follow-up clinical functioning scores (baseline collected at enrollment, follow-up assessments collected at 6 months and 12 months)

Measurement of clinical functioning using Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS). Trends from baseline to 6 months and 12 months will be examined to identify improvement, decline, or no change in clinical functioning. The CAFAS measure indicates the level of clinical functioning, on a scale of 0-140, where scores above 40 indicate clinical need.

Changes in Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) ScoreComparative analysis of baseline and follow-up clinical functioning scores (baseline collected at enrollment, follow-up assessments collected at 6 months and 12 months)

Measurement of clinical functioning using Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). Trends from baseline to 6 months and 12 months will be examined to identify improvement, decline, or no change in clinical functioning.The CGAS measure provides a single global rating only, on scale of 0-100, where scores below 60 indicate clinical need.

Family Care ExperienceAnalysis of baseline and follow-up family perceptions of care (baseline collected at enrollment, follow-up assessments collected at 6 months and 12 months)

Qualitative assessment of family perceptions of care using the Family Professional Partnership Scale (FPPS). The anchors of items rated on satisfaction are rated on a 5-point likert scale, where 1 = very dissatisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 5 = very satisfied wherein the higher the value represents a better outcome.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Cambridge Health Alliance

🇺🇸

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

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