We will hold focus groups with young people aged 13–17 currently or recently on a waiting list for mental health support. We will explore their experiences, views, preferences about being on a waiting list, including what support they would like while waiting.
Background
Mental health problems among children and young people aged 8 to 16 are becoming more common in England. In 2017 one in eight young people were thought to have a mental health disorder. By 2023, this had risen to one in five. Common conditions include anxiety, depression, self-harm, and behavioural difficulties.
More young people are being referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS); however, demand is higher than the services can manage. This has led to long waiting times. In 2022-23, almost one million children and young people had active referrals to CAMHS. Of these, 10% waited over a year, and 5% waited over two years. Long waits can make mental health problems worse.
To help with this, some services have introduced support for young people while they are on waiting lists. However, few are evaluated with input from young people themselves.
This study aims to find out what young people themselves want in terms of support while waiting for CAMHS. We will run focus groups with young people aged 13–17 who are currently on a waiting list or have recently been on one. We will ask about their experiences and what kind of support they would find helpful during the waiting period. Focus groups allow young people to talk together, share and build on experiences, and help identify both shared and differing views. Findings will be used to develop a survey to identify which types of support matter most to young people. Overall, this study will help create support options that are shaped by young people’s needs and preferences, making them more useful and meaningful.
Project Aims
The project aims to explore the types of support that young people would value while on a waiting list for CAMHS.
Specific objectives include
- Identify the kinds of support young people would find helpful while on a CAMHS waiting list
- Explore the relative priority that young people place on the different kinds of support identified
- Explore differences in preferences across socio-demographic characteristics
Project Activity
- Recruitment
The study will recruit young people aged 13–17 who are currently, or have recently been, on a CAMHS waiting list. Recruitment will take place through multiple channels, including partner charities (e.g., Centre 33, Place2Be, Charlie Waller Trust), local schools with mental health support teams, social media advertising, and youth patient and public involvement (PPI) networks not directly linked to NHS services. The target sample size is 4–5 focus groups, with 5–7 participants per group (total n = 25–30).
- Focus groups
Sessions will follow a semi-structured topic guide covering lived experiences of waiting for CAMHS, perceived gaps in support, and views on different types of interventions. The topic guide will remain flexible to allow participants to raise issues of importance to them. Groups will last approximately 60–70 minutes and will be audio-recorded.
- Analysis and dissemination
Audio-recordings will be transcribed and anonymised before analysis. We will produce lay summaries of our findings for participants, and for a blogpost for the NIHR East of England Applied Research Collaboration blogsite.
Anticipated or actual outputs
- Summary report for participants.
- A grid of waiting list intervention/ support service attributes for evaluation in a subsequent stated preference survey.
- Publication of the study findings in an open access paper.
- NIHR East of England Applied Research Collaboration blogpost.
Who is involved?
- Dr Joanna Reid (Joint PI), University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, East of England
- Dr Rory Cameron (Joint PI), Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, East of England
- Mohammad Karimipour, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, East of England
- Anne-Marie Burn, University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry
- Dr Adam P Wagner, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, East of England
- Helen Risebro, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, East of England
Contact
Rory Cameron, rory.cameron@uea.ac.uk
