Model fidelity of early intervention services for psychosis_version 1

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Model fidelity of early intervention services for first-episode psychosis in England

  • IRAS ID

    179518

  • Contact name

    Miriam / E Kinkaid

  • Contact email

    miriam.kinkaid@mail.mcgill.ca

  • Sponsor organisation

    Department of Epidemiology, McGill University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 5 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    How is early intervention for first-episode psychosis in England delivered?: Development and use of a new tool to measure how closely services follow guidelines for good practice.

    Early intervention (EI) aims to reduce delays in accessing care and improve outcomes for people during their first-episode of psychosis. EI services are well established in England. However, evidence suggests that there is a mismatch between guidance outlining how EI services should be implemented and how they actually operate (referred to as ‘fidelity’). This may have an impact on its overall effectiveness.

    This study seeks to:
    1) develop and validate a questionnaire tool for measuring the fidelity of EI services,
    2) use the tool to measure the fidelity of EI services across England.

    We have approached EI services in England and they have provisionally agreed to take part in the study. A fidelity questionnaire, made up of items considered to be important for EI service provision, has been developed with help from clinical staff working in EI teams. Two staff members from each EI service will be asked to complete the fidelity questionnaire independently about the service. The researcher will also complete the questionnaire independently by using individual clinical and administrative data routinely collected by the service, including patient medical records. The results from the two sources will be compared to establish the reliability and validity of the instrument. Once evaluated, the instrument will be used in a survey that will collect information about the fidelity of all EI services in England.

    This study aims to provide a validated questionnaire and a description of how EI services in England currently operate. The results will be of use to commissioners and providers of EI services for service evaluation and improvement.

  • REC name

    London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    16/LO/1929

  • Date of REC Opinion

    4 Jan 2017

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion