Developing and Testing a Text-messaging Intervention to Support Parents After Their Child's Psychiatric Emergency
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Summary
This grant aims to develop and test a text-messaging intervention for parents of children and teens evaluated in the emergency department for a psychiatric emergency and discharged home with outpatient referrals. The intervention for parents will teach parents skills to navigate the mental health services system and build their self-efficacy in managing their child's mental health. This research has the potential to improve services for families seeking emergency psychiatric support, with the goal of facilitating treatment engagement and reducing emergency services utilization using scalable, cost-effective, accessible tools.
Description
Rates of emergency department (ED) visits for psychiatric emergencies in adolescents have increased substantially in the past decade, including for suicidality, self-harm, and aggression. A substantial number of these adolescents will be discharged home from the ED with referrals to outpatient mental health treatment. Yet, engagement in outpatient mental health treatment among adolescents is low, and rates of repeated emergency services utilization are high, highlighting the need for better supports for these youth and families. While effective, brief interventions have been developed to direc…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Parents or legal guardians of a child ages 11-17; * Parents or legal guardians must live with their child ≥50% of the time; * Child must be admitted to the pediatric emergency department for a mental health crisis; * Child must be discharged home from the emergency department with referrals to outpatient care. Exclusion Criteria: * Do not have daily access to a mobile phone that can receive SMS text messages; * Do not speak and read fluently in English.
Interventions
- BehavioraliPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education about Care after the ED
Automated texting intervention for parents to increase engagement in their child's outpatient mental health treatment over an 8-week period.
- BehavioralText Messaging Reminders Only
Weekly automated text reminders to instruct parents to make an appointment with their child's outpatient mental health provider over an 8-week period.
Location
- Vanderbilt University Medical CenterNashville, Tennessee