Connor, C;
Birchwood, M;
Palmer, C;
Channa, S;
Freemantle, N;
Lester, H;
Patterson, P;
(2013)
Don't turn your back on the symptoms of psychosis: a proof-of-principle, quasi-experimental public health trial to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis in Birmingham, UK.
BMC Psychiatry
, 13
, Article 67. 10.1186/1471-244X-13-67.
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Abstract
Background Reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is an aspiration of international guidelines for first episode psychosis; however, public health initiatives have met with mixed results. Systematic reviews suggest that greater focus on the sources of delay within care pathways, (which will vary between healthcare settings) is needed to achieve sustainable reductions in DUP (BJP 198: 256-263; 2011). Methods/Design A quasi-experimental trial, comparing a targeted intervention area with a ‘detection as usual’ area in the same city. A proof-of–principle trial, no a priori assumptions are made regarding effect size; key outcome will be an estimate of the potential effect size for a definitive trial. DUP and number of new cases will be collected over an 18-month period in target and control areas and compared; historical data on DUP collected in both areas over the previous three years, will serve as a benchmark. The intervention will focus on reducing two significant DUP component delays within the overall care pathway: delays within the mental health service and help-seeking delay. Discussion This pragmatic trial will be the first to target known delays within the care pathway for those with a first episode of psychosis. If successful, this will provide a generalizable methodology that can be implemented in a variety of healthcare contexts with differing sources of delay. Trial registration http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN45058713
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Don't turn your back on the symptoms of psychosis: a proof-of-principle, quasi-experimental public health trial to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis in Birmingham, UK |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/1471-244X-13-67 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-67 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2013 Connor et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. PubMed ID: 23432935 |
| Keywords: | Public mental health campaign, first-episode psychosis, early detection, duration of untreated psychosis, youth mental health |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > Comprehensive CTU at UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1391147 |
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