Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial
Background: Adolescents who self-harm are often unsure how or where to get help. We developed a web-based personalised decision aid (DA), designed to support young people in decision-making about seeking help for their self-harm. Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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JMIR Publications
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48229/ |
| _version_ | 1848797719385079808 |
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| author | Rowe, Sarah L. Patel, Krisna French, Rebecca S. Henderson, Claire Ougrin, Dennis Slade, Mike Moran, Paul |
| author_facet | Rowe, Sarah L. Patel, Krisna French, Rebecca S. Henderson, Claire Ougrin, Dennis Slade, Mike Moran, Paul |
| author_sort | Rowe, Sarah L. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Adolescents who self-harm are often unsure how or where to get help. We developed a web-based personalised decision aid (DA), designed to support young people in decision-making about seeking help for their self-harm.
Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the DA intervention and the randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a school setting.
Methods: We conducted a 2-group, single blind, randomised controlled feasibility trial in a school setting. Participants aged 12-18 years who reported self-harm in the past 12 months were randomised to either a web-based DA or to general information about mood and feelings. Feasibility of recruitment, randomisation and follow-up rates were assessed, as was acceptability of the intervention and study procedures. Descriptive data were collected on outcome measures examining decision-making and help-seeking behaviour. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young people, parents/carers and staff, and subjected to thematic analysis to explore their views of the DA and study processes.
Results: Parental consent was a significant barrier to young people participating in the trial, with only 208 (18%) of the 1,164 parent/guardians contacted for consent responding to study invitations. Where parental consent was obtained, we were able to recruit 82% (n=170) of young people into the study. Of those young people screened, 14% (n=23) had self-harmed in the past year. Ten participants were randomised to receiving the DA and 13 were randomised to the control group. Four-week follow-up assessments were completed with all participants. The DA had good acceptability but qualitative interviews suggested that a DA that addressed broader mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and self-harm may be more beneficial.
Conclusions: A broad-based mental health DA addressing a wide range of psychosocial problems may be useful for young people. The requirement for parental consent is a key barrier to intervention research on self-harm in the school setting. Adaptations to the research design and/or the intervention are needed before generalisable research about DAs can be successfully conducted in a school setting. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:08:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48229 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:08:21Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-482292020-05-04T19:29:30Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48229/ Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial Rowe, Sarah L. Patel, Krisna French, Rebecca S. Henderson, Claire Ougrin, Dennis Slade, Mike Moran, Paul Background: Adolescents who self-harm are often unsure how or where to get help. We developed a web-based personalised decision aid (DA), designed to support young people in decision-making about seeking help for their self-harm. Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the DA intervention and the randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a school setting. Methods: We conducted a 2-group, single blind, randomised controlled feasibility trial in a school setting. Participants aged 12-18 years who reported self-harm in the past 12 months were randomised to either a web-based DA or to general information about mood and feelings. Feasibility of recruitment, randomisation and follow-up rates were assessed, as was acceptability of the intervention and study procedures. Descriptive data were collected on outcome measures examining decision-making and help-seeking behaviour. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young people, parents/carers and staff, and subjected to thematic analysis to explore their views of the DA and study processes. Results: Parental consent was a significant barrier to young people participating in the trial, with only 208 (18%) of the 1,164 parent/guardians contacted for consent responding to study invitations. Where parental consent was obtained, we were able to recruit 82% (n=170) of young people into the study. Of those young people screened, 14% (n=23) had self-harmed in the past year. Ten participants were randomised to receiving the DA and 13 were randomised to the control group. Four-week follow-up assessments were completed with all participants. The DA had good acceptability but qualitative interviews suggested that a DA that addressed broader mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and self-harm may be more beneficial. Conclusions: A broad-based mental health DA addressing a wide range of psychosocial problems may be useful for young people. The requirement for parental consent is a key barrier to intervention research on self-harm in the school setting. Adaptations to the research design and/or the intervention are needed before generalisable research about DAs can be successfully conducted in a school setting. JMIR Publications 2018-01-30 Article PeerReviewed Rowe, Sarah L., Patel, Krisna, French, Rebecca S., Henderson, Claire, Ougrin, Dennis, Slade, Mike and Moran, Paul (2018) Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial. JMIR Mental Health, 5 (1). e10. ISSN 2368-7959 (In Press) Adolescents self-harm decision aid intervention school feasibility RCT ethics http://mental.jmir.org/2018/1/e10/ doi:10.2196/mental.8098 doi:10.2196/mental.8098 |
| spellingShingle | Adolescents self-harm decision aid intervention school feasibility RCT ethics Rowe, Sarah L. Patel, Krisna French, Rebecca S. Henderson, Claire Ougrin, Dennis Slade, Mike Moran, Paul Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title | Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title_full | Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title_fullStr | Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title_short | Web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| title_sort | web-based decision-aid to assist help-seeking choices for young people who self-harm: outcomes from a randomised controlled feasibility trial |
| topic | Adolescents self-harm decision aid intervention school feasibility RCT ethics |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48229/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48229/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48229/ |