Foster Care Mental Health Family Navigator

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
This study will focus on developing and testing a family-based mental health navigator intervention, the Foster Care Family Navigator (FCFN), to evaluate whether the intervention combined with mHealth would be efficacious in improving mental health service initiation and engagement for child welfare-involved youth.

Detailed Description
-----------------
The study will demonstrate how a family-based navigator intervention combined with mHealth may lead to improved mental health treatment initiation and engagement among child welfare-involved (CWI) youth. CWI youth have high rates of mental health symptoms relative to youth in the community, and are disproportionately racial and ethnic minorities, only perpetuating disparities in this population's mental health access and engagement. The proposed project will develop and test a family-based navigator intervention, the Foster Care Family Navigator (FCFN), a natural fit for improving CWI youth mental health service and clinical outcomes. The study will start with identifying the feasibility and acceptability of the FCFN intervention. Then, the study will determine whether the FCFN intervention improves CWI youth mental health treatment initiation and engagement, relative to standard of care (not participating in FCFN intervention). Finally, the study will characterize patterns of pre- and post-service outcomes along the behavioral health services cascade of care, to further evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the FCFN model.

Official Title
-----------------
Foster Care Mental Health Family Navigator

Conditions
-----------------
Mental Health

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Family-based mental health navigation
* Behavioral: Standard of care engagement practices


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: English-speaking youth Ages 12-17 Have an active dependency petition with the SF Unified Family Court (newly filed or existing when the trial starts) Are open to SF DPH Foster Care Mental Health Clinic services Have an involved caregiver/legal guardian for consent Family has mobile phone access Exclusion Criteria: Youth is not English-speaking Caregiver has impairment that would preclude providing informed consent Unavailable guardian for consent

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 12 Years
Maximum Age: 17 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
No

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: This is a dynamic wait-listed design in which the investigators will test a theory-driven family-based navigator treatment engagement intervention (FCFN) while also collecting data on the FCFN model's potential implementation and adoption within child welfare and behavioral health settings.
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Family-based mental health navigation<br>Family-based navigator intervention combined with mHealth practices to improve mental health treatment initiation and engagement | Behavioral: Family-based mental health navigation<br>* Family-based navigator intervention combined with mHealth practices to improve mental health treatment initiation and engagement<br>|
| Active Comparator: Standard of care, then family-based mental health navigation<br>During wait-list period receive standard of care engagement practices and services-as-usual, and after the wait-list period the participants receive the family-based navigator intervention combined with mHealth practices | Behavioral: Family-based mental health navigation<br>* Family-based navigator intervention combined with mHealth practices to improve mental health treatment initiation and engagement<br>Behavioral: Standard of care engagement practices<br>* Standard of care engagement practices and services-as-usual<br>|

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Time to treatment referral | Number of days until treatment referral is made | 12 months post enrollment | 
| Time to treatment initiation | Number of days until attendance at first treatment session | 12 months post enrollment | 
| Treatment engagement | Engagement as measured by attendance in treatment for 6 or more weeks | 12 months post enrollment | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Adolescent, Foster Care, Mental Health, Navigator, Service Access