The Family VOICE Study

NCT ID: NCT01804582

Last Updated: 2019-11-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 350 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-05-31
• Study Completion Date: 2016-03-31

Brief Summary

Family centered mental health treatment with children values and supports the role of parents in their child's recovery. However, medications are often the primary focus in community treatment, even in preschool age youth, with increasing use of antipsychotic medication for serious mood and behavior problems. Although medication may be necessary to address safety issues (such as severe aggression) it can cause serious side effects, such as obesity, and medication only does not follow recommended care for these types of problems. Psychosocial treatments are highly recommended (e.g. Programs that coach empower parents to manage their child's difficult behaviors) as part of comprehensive child treatment. Parent involvement in psychosocial treatment has clear benefits for their child's mental health, and unlike medication, the effects can last long after treatment is completed. However, problems related to access (e.g. long waiting lists) and use (e.g. parent mistrust mental health services) of services are common. Maryland, like other states, has developed a system to improve medication safety by reviewing health information about the child to determine if the treatment is appropriate. This reduces unnecessary medication treatment and ensures children have adequate health screening before starting any treatment. Those approved for medication have moderate-severe mental health problems, which supports their need for comprehensive (medication and psychosocial) treatment, instead of medication only. In this study, investigators partner with parents/family advocates, child-serving agencies, and health providers to develop a Family Navigator (FN) Service to link with this medication program. A FN is an individual who has cared for their own child with mental illness. The FN supports parents, provide information on psychosocial treatment options, and address barriers to using services. The goals of this program are to improve use of psychosocial services, and to improve parent empowerment, support, and satisfaction with their child's mental health treatment. The investigators also expect that the FN Service will improve the child's overall mental health and reduce the likelihood of a medication dose increase or another medication added during the initial treatment period. The FN Service is provided for parents of public insured children ages 3-15 years newly approved for antipsychotic medication treatment. The FN Services will be provided by phone, which supports families in both rural and urban settings. The investigators' long term goal is to develop a FN program that strongly supports Family-centered treatment of children and can be used to help families in other underserved areas beyond Maryland.

Detailed Description

Background: Emerging data on serious antipsychotic medication side effects (e.g. new onset diabetes)has heightened concerns about sharp increases in "off label" pediatric antipsychotic treatment of mood/behavioral disorders, and led to increased scrutiny of pediatric mental health treatment. Several states are developing antipsychotic medication pre-authorization programs to reduce inappropriate or unsafe prescribing. This Healthcare system change, however, fails to address a critical underlying problem that parents are not effectively engaged to utilize non-medication treatments and serve an active role in their child's mental health recovery. Psychosocial treatments (e.g. parenting skills training to manage aggressive behaviors) are evidence-based interventions that are poorly utilized in community care. The Maryland Medicaid program developed a pediatric Antipsychotic Pre-Authorization Program that requires providers to make at least one psychosocial treatment referral in order to obtain medication approval. This program was shaped by strong input from parents, health experts, and child serving agency administrators to promote psychosocial treatment referral, but it does not provide any Family-centered services to improve treatment utilization. Objectives: We propose to link the Antipsychotic Pre-Authorization Program with a Family Navigator Service. The investigators will examine if Navigator Services improve parent empowerment, support, and satisfaction with child services. The investigators will also assess if Navigator Services are associated with improved psychosocial service utilization, improved child functioning, and lower likelihood of medication increases (higher dose or addition of another medication). The investigators' long term objective is to develop a Family Navigator model that is highly portable, amenable for use in underserved areas, addresses the needs of low income families with young children, and promotes evidence-based mental health care. Methods: The investigators will conduct a randomized trial of a telephone Family Navigator Service versus usual care for 240 Medicaid insured youth 10 years old who are approved for antipsychotic medication treatment. The Family Navigator is a parent who has experienced their own child's mental illness. Navigators will provide support, information on psychosocial treatment options, and options to address barriers to care. The investigators will assess family-centered outcomes at baseline and 90 days (medication re-authorization). The investigators will use generalized linear mixed effects models with the appropriate link functions to assess whether there is a significant difference in improvement from baseline to the post-treatment assessment on the outcome variables between the Family Navigator condition and treatment as usual condition. A significant interaction between time and study condition would support the hypothesis that a Family Navigator will improve parent and child outcomes.

Conditions

Autism; Aggression; Bipolar Disorder; Psychotic Disorders

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Family Navigator Consultation

This group of parents will be contacted by a Family Navigator to assist them in accessing psychosocial resources based on their child and family needs. Components of this intervention are the following:

(1)family engagement; (2) inquiry about psychosocial resource needs related to schools, outpatient child treatment, support programs, or mental health resources for other household family members; (3) discuss potential benefits/challenges of options and parent preferences/priorities for care; (4) assessment on perceived barriers to seeking resources; (5) collaborative problem solving to address barriers; (6) discuss options for follow up plan.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Family Navigator consultation

Intervention Type: OTHER

Telephone contact from the trained family navigator to the parent participant several times over the 90 day study time period. Components of the service include the following:

(1)family engagement; (2) inquiry about psychosocial resource needs related to schools, outpatient child treatment, support programs, or mental health resources for other household family members; (3) discuss potential benefits/challenges of options and parent preferences/priorities for care; (4) assessment on perceived barriers to seeking resources; (5) collaborative problem solving to address barriers; (6) discuss options for follow up plan.

Usual Care

No specific study intervention is provided to this group of parents. This control group will received the usual care that they have been receiving from their child's providers.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Family Navigator consultation

Telephone contact from the trained family navigator to the parent participant several times over the 90 day study time period. Components of the service include the following:

(1)family engagement; (2) inquiry about psychosocial resource needs related to schools, outpatient child treatment, support programs, or mental health resources for other household family members; (3) discuss potential benefits/challenges of options and parent preferences/priorities for care; (4) assessment on perceived barriers to seeking resources; (5) collaborative problem solving to address barriers; (6) discuss options for follow up plan.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Other Intervention Names

Patient navigator services

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Child 2 to 15 years old who has been approved by the Maryland Medicaid program for treatment with an antipsychotic medication.

Exclusion Criteria

Department of social services custody

• Minimum Eligible Age: 2 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Maryland, Baltimore

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Gloria Reeves

M.D. , Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Gloria M Reeves, M.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Maryland, Baltimore

Locations

University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Countries

United States

References

Olin SS, Hoagwood KE, Rodriguez J, Radigan M, Burton G, Cavaleri M, Jensen PS. Impact of Empowerment Training on the Professional Work of Family Peer Advocates. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2010 Oct 1;32(10):1426-1429. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.06.012.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 21076659 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1300476

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

HP-00054913

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id