Therapeutic Relationships In CAMHS (TRIC Study)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Therapeutic Relationships In Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (TRIC Study)
IRAS ID
257749
Contact name
Samantha Hartley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Good therapeutic alliance is essential, as it is a key determinant of the outcome of therapy. Therapeutic alliance is different in child therapy relationships, as often there is a parent/caregiver involved in the therapy. Additionally, unlike adult therapeutic relationships, children don’t often self-refer to therapy and there is an inherent power-imbalance between adults and young people. Therefore, it is important to find out more about therapeutic alliance within this specific context i.e. definition, factors that contribute towards and also hinder its development. In developing this understanding, targeted intervention methods could be devised that help support effective therapeutic relationships and thus better outcomes. The current study will recruit young people who’ve access CAMHS in the past year, parents of children who’ve accessed CAMHS in the past year and staff who have worked in CAMHS within the last month. There are two phases. In phase 1; we will use a Delphi technique to reach agreement on important elements of the therapeutic alliance. This phase will run for 4-6 weeks and participants will be contacted online three times. In phase 2, we will use information from phase 1, alongside previous evidence to reach a consensus on elements of a new intervention for the therapeutic alliance, involving experts from all relevant groups. Two meetings will be held in a central location which will take place across approximately two months. We hope this research will improve the experience of accessing CAMHS for young people and their families, which aims to create more understanding for everyone about what is helpful in therapeutic relationships, which ultimately aims to increase better outcomes.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0251
Date of REC Opinion
24 May 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion