Over a period of years, with Dr Nicola Evans and Dr Becky Playle I’ve been supervising Gavin John, whose doctoral studies have focused on (as Gavin himself puts it in his thesis), the ‘interventions and processes that promote or hinder children and young
people’s connections to their education, friends and families during periods of admission to
hospital for mental health care’.
Gavin’s research has built directly on the RiSC study (see here for an accessible summary). Following a viva at the end of 2022, in February 2023 Gavin officially because ‘Dr’: very many congratulations to him! For a direct link to Gavin’s thesis, the place to go is here. And, for flavour of what Gavin did in his research and what he found, here is his summary:
Background: Existing research has identified risks to children and young people’s (CYP)
connections to their friends, family and education during periods of inpatient mental health
care. However, to date there is a dearth of research on what interventions and processes
support CYP to maintain these connections.
Aim: To explore the interventions and processes that promote or hinder children and young
people’s connections to their education, friends and families during periods of admission to
hospital for mental health care.
Method: Case study methodology was used involving the generation of qualitative and
quantitative data in a single CAMHS inpatient unit. Three outcome measures relating to
mental health, friends, family and education were completed by adolescents admitted to
hospital for care and treatment of their mental ill-health (n=26). A subset of children and
young people (n=9), their caregivers (n=6) and health, social and education practitioners
(n=11) were interviewed, multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings were observed, and policy
and procedure documents were examined.
Results: Demographic data were collected and results from three questionnaires indicate
participants were in the abnormal banding for the total difficulties score on the Strengths and
Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Participants scored highest on the global scale and trust
and communication subscales in relation to mothers in the Inventory of Parent and Peer
Attachment-Revised (IPPA-R). Highest scores were recorded on the behavioural and
emotional engagement subscales of parts A and B of the Student School Engagement
Survey (SSES). Thematic analysis of interviews (n=26), observations and documentary
analysis of policy and procedure documents identified five themes: ‘Remote connections to
friends and family’, ‘Physical connections to friends and family’, ‘Peers in hospital’, ‘Impact
on families’ and ‘Connections to education’.
Conclusion: The study highlights significant barriers to children and young people
maintaining connections to their friends, family and education during periods of inpatient
mental health care. It identifies candidate interventions to help children and young people
maintain these connections.
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