Young people's views of an intensive home treatment service in Enfield
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Young people's views of an intensive home-treatment service for adolescents in Enfield
IRAS ID
194058
Contact name
Gemma Swistak
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 6 days
Research summary
Intensive home-treatment services have been developed in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as alternatives to hospital admission for young people in mental health crisis. A wide range of services has been developed in response to the reduction of inpatient beds and the high cost associated with these. Increasing government policy supports investment in these specialist services to avoid the use of unnecessary inpatient provision. Current evidence suggests intensive home-treatment services appear to be promising alternatives to inpatient care, with their use being associated with similar or better clinical outcomes at a lower cost and with greater family satisfaction.
However, there is little focus on the experiences of young people in receipt of these services. Only one study has been identified that reports on young people and their carers’ views of such a service in Bradford (Rani et al. 2009). Both positive and negative impacts on family life emerged as themes of this study; while home-treatment was seen as the preferred option to inpatient care, the pain of living with the association of home being the setting of experiences when unwell was highlighted as an unexpected finding.
The purpose of this study is to further explore the experiences of young people who have been treated at home during a mental health crisis. The study aims to interview 10 young people with recent experience of being supported by an intensive home-treatment team in Enfield. The interviews will focus on the positive and negative aspects of being treated at home, the effects on parent/carer and sibling relationships, and how the young person’s sense of “home” is affected through treatment and into recovery. With increasing emphasis on service user involvement and participation in services, it is anticipated that this study could make an important contribution to future training of staff and service improvement.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0032
Date of REC Opinion
5 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion