This study aims to see whether two existing assessment tools — the Development and Wellbeing Assessment (DAWBA) and Artemis-A — could be used routinely to measure outcomes in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Background
There is growing international concern about a crisis in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Despite this, everyday clinical practice often varies widely and is not always based on strong evidence. New and effective ways of working are slow to be adopted, partly because CAMHS is a complex system, there are too few large, high-quality evaluation studies, and there is a lack of clear pathways that link research findings to routine clinical care.
This study aims to help with this problem by exploring whether two existing assessment tools — the Development and Wellbeing Assessment (DAWBA) and Artemis-A — could be used routinely to measure outcomes in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). If these tools are found to be feasible, they could be adopted nationally as standard outcome measures. This would support better evaluation of treatments and help build a stronger evidence base for child and adolescent mental health care.
Project Aims
This study looks at whether two tools, DAWBA and Artemis-A, can realistically be used as routine outcome measures in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). We will test them in selected CAMHS clinics within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Project Activity
- We will examine what time, staff, and resources are needed to use these tools in everyday clinical work. Clinicians and support staff will be interviewed to understand their experiences of using DAWBA and Artemis-A, and these interviews will be analysed to identify common themes. The interviews will also help us understand how well the tools match current practice and how useful they may be for predicting future clinical decisions.
- We will also use anonymised data to see how often the DAWBA and Artemis-A are actually used. This includes looking at how many patients are offered the measures and how many go on to complete them.
- Using DAWBA scores, we will carry out a small audit to better understand the types of cases seen in local CAMHS, such as how complex the cases are and how often young people have more than one diagnosis.
- We will summarise the data using simple statistics, like counts and percentages, and we will also look at differences between groups based on age, gender, and parent or carer background (such as education and employment).
Anticipated or actual outputs
If the study shows the tools are practical to use, they could be adopted nationally as standard outcome measures in CAMHS. This would then allow larger studies to test treatments properly and help build a stronger evidence base for child and adolescent mental health care.
Who is involved?
- Prof Tamsin Jane Ford (PI), University of Cambridge
- Dr Helen Casey
- Dr Jan Stochl
- Dr Anne-Marie Burn
