Reducing Disparities in Behavioral Health Treatment for Children in Primary Care
- Conditions
- ADHD
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Partnering to Achieve School Success (PASS)Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU)
- Registration Number
- NCT04082234
- Lead Sponsor
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to address a decisional dilemma faced by health system officials, policy makers, and clinical leaders: "Does it make sense to integrate behavior therapy into primary care practice to treat children with ADHD from low-income settings? More specifically, does integrated care improve access to services and patient-centered outcomes for underserved children with ADHD?" Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: Behavior therapy integrated into primary care (Partnering to Achieve School Success; PASS program) to treatment as usual (TAU) informed by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for ADHD practice and facilitated by electronic practice supports." Participants will be 300 children (ages 5-11) with ADHD and their caregivers served at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Care Network Locations (primary care offices). Participants are drawn from primary care locations that serve primarily low-income and racial/ethnic minority population.
- Detailed Description
Context: Families of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have difficulty getting access to behavior therapy for their children. This project focuses on children and families of low-income, racial/ethnic minority background, who have particular difficulty getting access to behavior therapy. This study will compare enhanced behavior therapy integrated into primary care (known as Partnering to Achieve School Success \[PASS\]) to treatment as usual (TAU) informed by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for the treatment of ADHD. In this study, behavior therapy will include components to address the unique needs of low-income families of minority status.
Objectives: This project is designed to improve family use of services for ADHD; improve children's academic achievement, behavioral compliance, interpersonal relationships, and life satisfaction; and reduce ADHD symptoms.
Study Design: The study is a randomized controlled trial.
Setting/Participants: The study is being conducted in seven CHOP primary care practices serving a high percentage of families of low-income, racial/ethnic minority status. Participants will be children ages 5 to 11 with ADHD. Children will be randomly assigned to PASS or TAU, with 150 per group.
Study Interventions and Measures: PASS is a behavioral intervention for childhood ADHD that includes behavior therapy strategies and enhancements to promote family engagement in treatment, team-based care, and high-quality therapy. PASS uses a fully integrated service model that includes regular collaboration between the PASS provider and primary care provider (PCP). The primary outcomes are patient-centered outcomes pertaining to child academic achievement, behavior compliance, interpersonal relationships, and life satisfaction, as assessed by parent/legal guardian (or caregiver), and child rating. Secondary outcomes are informant ratings of ADHD symptoms.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 300
- Children between the ages of 5 and 11 years (as reported in EHR at the time of referral to the study team)
- Children receiving care in one of the seven targeted CHOP practices for this study
- Children with an existing diagnosis of ADHD (as indicated by the referring primary care provider or behavioral health provider and/or EHR)
- Children with one or more areas of impairment (score of 3 or 4 on scale ranging from 1 to 4)
- Evidence that child may be in a family of low-income status, as indicated by child eligibility for Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) OR child living in a census tract or census block with median income at or below two times the federal poverty level
- Parental/guardian permission (informed consent) and if appropriate, child assent.
- Child has autism spectrum disorder
- Child has an intellectual disability
- Child has a comorbid condition that is a major clinical concern and requires an alternative form of treatment
- Child is receiving behavioral health services from another provider at the time of recruitment
- Child has a sibling currently enrolled in the study
- Child has received Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids (CHOP's Integrated Behavioral Health Service) in the past 6 months
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Integrated Individualized Behavioral Parent Training Partnering to Achieve School Success (PASS) Partnering to Achieve School Success (PASS) is a personalized, enhanced behavioral intervention for ADHD that includes evidence-based behavior therapy strategies and enhancements to promote family engagement in treatment, team-based care, and high quality therapy. Caregivers engage in up to 12 sessions with a behavioral health provider over the course of 16 weeks that are specifically tailored to caregiver goals and values. Treatment as Usual Treatment as Usual (TAU) The control condition will be TAU informed by AAP guidelines for managing ADHD and facilitated by electronic practice supports, which have been successfully incorporated into the electronic health record (EHR) to guide primary care providers (PCPs) in implementing ADHD guidelines. At CHOP, PCPs across the primary care network were invited to participate in a distance learning, quality improvement initiative to promote implementation of AAP guidelines, including strategies to educate families about ADHD and evidence-based treatments, engage families in shared decision making, titrate medication, and monitor treatment effects. The six practices participating in this study participated in that project.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Changes in Homework Performance Baseline, 8-weeks (mid-treatment), 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) The Inattention/Task Avoidance factor of the Homework Problem Checklist (HPC) will be used as a parent-report measure of academic performance. This 12-item scale has strong psychometric properties and is responsive to family-school intervention programs.
Changes in Behavior Compliance Baseline, 8-weeks (mid-treatment; parent only), 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Behavior compliance will be determined by assessing the severity of disruptive behavior using the eight items pertaining to oppositional-defiant disorder from the Vanderbilt parent scale and four items pertaining to oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) from the Vanderbilt teacher scale. Both parents (primary outcome) and teachers (secondary outcome) will complete this measure. The psychometric properties of parent and teacher reports on this measure have been shown to be adequate.
Changes in Service Use Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Service use for emotional and behavioral problems will be measured via a service use measure adapted for this study designed to gather information on the child's use of services to treat ADHD. In this study, we will collect data on service utilization in outpatient mental health settings and school settings, and treatment with medication.
Changes in Symptoms of ADHD and Emotional and Behavioral Problems Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Severity of ADHD symptoms will be assessed using the Vanderbilt Scales. This measure will be completed by parents and teachers. Parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms have been demonstrated to have excellent psychometric properties and to be sensitive to change in response to treatment. A total symptom score will be used in this study. A child self-report measure of ADHD symptoms will not be included because children with ADHD have been shown to substantially overestimate their competence with regard to paying attention and regulating their behavior. All 18 ADHD symptom items will be completed at Baseline and all 9 ADHD Inattention items and 3 ADHD Hyperactivity/Impulsivity items will be administered at post-treatment and follow-up.
Changes in Peer Relationships Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) peer relationships scales will be used to assess child relationships with their peers. The child-report version consists of 8 items and the parent-report measure has 7 items. These measures assess the quality of children's relationships with peers including the degree of peer acceptance. The scales have been shown to produce scores that are both reliable and valid based on analyses using item response theory.
Changes in Life Satisfaction Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) The PROMIS life satisfaction scale consists of a 4-item child-report measure and a 4-item parent-report measure. It assesses children's and parents' evaluations of the quality of the child's life. Using analyses based in item response theory, these scales have been shown to be reliable with a wide range of life satisfaction levels \[from 2.5 standard deviations (SDs) below the mean to 1 SD above the mean\].
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Satisfaction with Treatment 16-weeks (post-treatment) Parent satisfaction with PASS will be assessed using modified versions of the Treatment Evaluation Inventory (TEI).
Acceptability of PASS Delivery Modality 16-weeks (post-treatment) Parent/legal guardian/caregiver satisfaction with the modality of PASS delivery (i.e., in-person or telehealth) will be assessed using a novel Acceptability of PASS Delivery Modality measure.
Changes in Family Empowerment Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Parent empowerment with regard to their knowledge of how to obtain services for their children will be assessed using the Service System factor of the Family Empowerment Scale. This twelve-item scale has been shown to have adequate reliability (alpha=.87; test-retest=.77) and validity.
Changes in Perceptions of Team-Based Care Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) To evaluate parental perceptions of team-based care, a seven-item scale was derived from the Clinician and Group Survey, Version 3.0 of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS, https://cahps.ahrq.gov/surveys-guidance/cg/about/index.html). The scale includes four Communication and three Care Coordination items.
Changes in Parent-Teacher Involvement Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Items from the Quality of Parent-Teacher Relationship subscale of the Parent-Teacher Involvement Questionnaire (PTIQ) will be used to evaluate the quality of the family-school relationship. The parent version of the form includes 6 items and the teacher version consists of 5 items. Subscales have been validated in families of youth with ADHD and have demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and validity.
Changes in Academic Progress Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) The Academic Progress Report (APR) is a parent- and teacher-report measure of academic achievement. The APR assesses proficiency in academic subjects relative to standard expectations (1=Well below standard; 3=At standard; 5=Well above standard). The sum of ratings across academic subjects is the unit of analysis. Reliability is acceptable (alpha = .84), and this measure is sensitive to the effect of behavioral treatments.
Changes in Behavior Compliance Baseline, 8-weeks (mid-treatment; parent only), 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) Behavior compliance will be determined by assessing the severity of disruptive behavior using the eight items pertaining to oppositional-defiant disorder from the Vanderbilt parent scale and four items pertaining to oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) from the Vanderbilt teacher scale. Both parents (primary outcome) and teachers (secondary outcome) will complete this measure. The psychometric properties of parent and teacher reports on this measure have been shown to be adequate.
Post-Treatment Interview 16-weeks (post-treatment) Parent/legal guardian/caregivers in the PASS condition will be offered the opportunity to complete a one-time, audio-recorded, qualitative interview at the post-treatment assessment timepoint. This interview will include questions related to perceptions of effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, and usability of the PASS intervention and the Community Health Partner support, as well as the cultural humility of the PASS provider. The interview will be conducted once and take approximately 40 minutes to complete. Caregivers/legal guardians/parents will be asked to participate (i.e., not children or teachers). Caregivers/legal guardians/parents may participate in this interview whether they received any PASS sessions or not, as long as they had been randomized to the PASS condition and have not withdrawn from the study.
Changes in Parent-Child Relationship Baseline, 16-weeks (post-treatment), 32-weeks (follow-up) The Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PCRQ) will assess parent perceptions of their parenting practices. Four items from the positive Involvement factor and the full Negative/Ineffective Discipline factor (12 items) are included in the current trial.
Cultural Humility of Provider 16-weeks (post-treatment) Parent/legal guardian/caregiver perceptions of PASS provider cultural humility will be assessed using a novel Cultural Humility Measure at post-treatment.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
🇺🇸Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States