Mental Health and Cognitive Dysfunction: A Multicenter Study at Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinics in North Norway

Completed

• Conditions: Mental Disorders
• Interventions: Other: mental disorders; Behavioral: screening for mental disorders

• Registration Number: NCT01767207
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital of North Norway

Brief Summary

Patients referred to pediatric rehabilitation services have often cognitive deficits/intellectual disabilities.Neurocognitive assessment is, hence, important when designing treatment plans.

Children and adolescents with cognitive deficits and intellectual disabilities (ID) have a high risk of developing mental health problems. There is lack of knowledge about such comorbid mental disorders in the health service. There are also few validated instruments for assessing mental disorders among children and adolescents with cognitive deficits and ID both in Norway and abroad.

The main aims of the current multicentre study are to:

Investigate psychometric properties of different psychiatric instruments for children and adolescents. Investigate change and stability of symptoms over time. Investigate user satisfaction. The study will include Pediatric Rehabilitation Services at hospitals in Tromsø, Hammerfest and Bodø and will include in total 320 patients aged 4 to 18. We will use information from parents, teachers and patients, in addition to clinician-rated measures. Patients will be assessed at intake and after six months. We have conducted a pilot study in the period from 2012 to 2013.

Detailed Description

1. Investigate psychometric properties of a structured psychiatric interview

(DAWBA) and a symptom measure (SDQ) in clinical samples of children and

adolescents with cognitive deficits and intellectual disabilities. We will

investigate the instruments' reliability and convergent validity with the

Aberrant Behavior checklist (ABC), the DBC and the Social Responsiveness

Scale (SRS), in addition to the clinician-rated severity of children's mental

health problems measured with the CGAS and HoNOSCA.

2. The psychiatric instruments will be administrated at intake and after six

months. We will investigate prevalence rates and indicators of disorder

severity (comorbidity and persistence), including risk factors (socioeconomic

status, parenting styles).

3. Investigate user satisfaction with the health service, i.e., the Pediatric

Rehabilitation Services.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-10
• Study First Submitted: 2013-01-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-01-10
• Study First Posted: 2013-01-14
• Primary Completion: 2016-06
• Study Completion: 2016-06
• Status Verified: 2017-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-07-11
• Last Update Posted: 2017-07-14

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 365

Inclusion Criteria

1. Age from 4 years to 18 years

2. Written informed consent to participate

3. Fluent in Norwegian

4. Normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing

Exclusion Criteria

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
screening for mental disorders	mental disorders	screening for mental disorders
screening for mental disorders	screening for mental disorders	screening for mental disorders

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Prevalence of mental disorders	Within the first or second day the patient is undergoing an assessment at the hospital	The Development and Well Being Assessment (DAWBA) is a package of interviews, questionnaires and rating techniques designed to generate psychiatric diagnoses on 5-17 year old according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Prevalence of mental disorders	within 6 months after the initial assessment	The Development and Well Being Assessment short-version is re-administered 6 months after taking part in the study (i.e., the basic outcome measure)

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

University Hospital of North Norway; 🇳🇴 Tromsø, Norway

Finnmarkssykehuset (The Finnmark Hospital Trust); 🇳🇴 Hammerfest, Norway