Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mindel, C., Oppong, C., Rothwell, E., Sefi, A. and Jacob, J. (2021), Assessing the need of young people using online counselling services: how useful are standardised measures?. Child Adolesc Ment Health, 26: 339-346. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12456 which has been published in final form at https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.12456 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing the need of young people using online counselling services
T2 - how useful are standardised measures?
AU - Mindel, Charlotte
AU - Oppong, Crystal
AU - Rothwell, Emily
AU - Sefi, Aaron
AU - Jacob, Jenna
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mindel, C., Oppong, C., Rothwell, E., Sefi, A. and Jacob, J. (2021), Assessing the need of young people using online counselling services: how useful are standardised measures?. Child Adolesc Ment Health, 26: 339-346. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12456 which has been published in final form at https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.12456 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2021/11/30
Y1 - 2021/11/30
N2 - BackgroundClinical assessments for children and young people entering a mental health service help to identify the prevalence of need within that population, support intervention recommendations, and enable service evaluation. Evidence related to the use of standardised measures in an ever‐expanding online environment, for the purpose of identifying need, is limited.MethodsThis study explores the reliability of using a standardised measure to detect clinical need in an online therapeutic environment, and the measures assessed are as follows: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Young Person’s CORE (YP‐CORE) and the Short Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). A deep‐dive approach is used to inform practitioner assessment of young people, followed by a Weighted Cohen’s Kappa (Κw) to measure the interrater reliability between this and the individuals’ self‐rated outcome. Composite case studies represent the complexities of presentation among the sample population.ResultsThe interrater reliability between self‐rated and practitioner rated assessment varied between Κw = .222 and Κw = 0.446 depending on the measure. High levels of need and low levels of well‐being were found among the sample (YP‐CORE Avg. = 26.9, SDQ Avg. = 19.56, SWEMWBS Avg. = 18.1).ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate a fair to moderate reliability when assessing concordance between service users and practitioners, which suggests standardised measures are a reliable indicator of need. Higher levels of need were present than those seen previously in general or face‐to‐face clinical populations, which suggests using such measures in an online therapeutic environment influences the way in which assessments are responded to.
AB - BackgroundClinical assessments for children and young people entering a mental health service help to identify the prevalence of need within that population, support intervention recommendations, and enable service evaluation. Evidence related to the use of standardised measures in an ever‐expanding online environment, for the purpose of identifying need, is limited.MethodsThis study explores the reliability of using a standardised measure to detect clinical need in an online therapeutic environment, and the measures assessed are as follows: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Young Person’s CORE (YP‐CORE) and the Short Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). A deep‐dive approach is used to inform practitioner assessment of young people, followed by a Weighted Cohen’s Kappa (Κw) to measure the interrater reliability between this and the individuals’ self‐rated outcome. Composite case studies represent the complexities of presentation among the sample population.ResultsThe interrater reliability between self‐rated and practitioner rated assessment varied between Κw = .222 and Κw = 0.446 depending on the measure. High levels of need and low levels of well‐being were found among the sample (YP‐CORE Avg. = 26.9, SDQ Avg. = 19.56, SWEMWBS Avg. = 18.1).ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate a fair to moderate reliability when assessing concordance between service users and practitioners, which suggests standardised measures are a reliable indicator of need. Higher levels of need were present than those seen previously in general or face‐to‐face clinical populations, which suggests using such measures in an online therapeutic environment influences the way in which assessments are responded to.
KW - Child
KW - mental health
KW - assessment measures
KW - prevalence
KW - adolescent
KW - online counselling
U2 - 10.1111/camh.12456
DO - 10.1111/camh.12456
M3 - Journal article
VL - 26
SP - 339
EP - 346
JO - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
JF - Child and Adolescent Mental Health
SN - 1475-3588
IS - 4
ER -