Service users' experiences of a brief intervention service for children and adolescents : a service evaluation

Gallagher, Jen; Schlösser, Annette

Abstract

Ten per cent of young people experience mental health difficulties at any one time. Prevention and early intervention leads to better prognosis for young people's mental well-being in the short and long term. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) must be able to provide swift and effective interventions for a range of difficulties to meet this need. This paper presents a service evaluation of the Brief Intervention Service in North Lincolnshire CAMHS. Nine young people and/or their families took part in semi-structured interviews that aimed to explore their experiences of receiving an intervention from the service. Template analysis was carried out to draw out themes from the interview transcripts. The three a priori themes were treatment outcomes, areas for potential improvement, and things that are working well; and an additional two emergent themes were emotional experience and managing practical barriers. In addition, all participants were asked about their satisfaction with the service and whether they would recommend the service to others. One hundred per cent reported feeling respected by their clinician when asked directly, and all felt that the service would be helpful for other young people and families. Overall, families were satisfied with the service and reported outcomes including improvements in symptomatology and family functioning. Specific recommendations as to how the service could be improved were made, which related to difficulties accessing the service, the content of the sessions, and communication within the service and with other services.

Citation

Gallagher, J., & Schlösser, A. (2015). Service users' experiences of a brief intervention service for children and adolescents : a service evaluation. Child Care in Practice, 21(4), 374-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2015.1028894

• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 2, 2015
• Deposit Date: Oct 4, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2016
• Journal: Child care in practice
• Print ISSN: 1357-5279
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 374-391
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2015.1028894
• Keywords: Brief intervention; Short-term therapy; Child and adolescent mental health; Qualitative
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/443738
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2015.1028894
• Additional Information: Authors' accepted manuscript of article published in: Child care in practice, 2015, v.21, issue 4
• Contract Date: Oct 4, 2016