Clinical trial NCT06865573: Youth Mental Health Recovery in the Family After Inpatient Stay
Official title: Reintegration, Coping, and Care of Families After Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Treatment
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Conditions: Caregiver Burden
Family Characteristics
Parent-Child Interactions
Lead sponsor: University of Vienna
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-03-10
Enrollment: 70
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: primary caregivers (parents or guardians regardless of the biological relationship to the child) of children and adolescents who received inpatient psychiatric treatment

Brief summary: The goal of this longitudinal mixed-methods study is to investigate caregiver strain, family processes and health outcomes after youth psychiatric inpatient treatment. Caregivers of youth who received inpatient treatment for mental health problems will complete a survey at three timepoints (baseline, 3- and 6- month followup) reporting on youth outcomes, caregiver well-being, and family processes. Qualitative interviews on caregivers' challenges, needs, and resources around the return to home care are conducted with a subsample (target n = 10) of participants.

The main research questions (RQs) are:

RQ 1: Do family processes contribute to youth mental health outcomes after discharge from inpatient treatment? RQ 1a: What family-level risk factors predict youth readmission to inpatient treatment? RQ 1b: Do family processes predict youth mental health trajectories over time? RQ 2: Is there a reciprocal relationship between youth mental health problems and caregiver burden? RQ 2a: Do family processes mediate the association between caregiver burden and youth mental health problems? RQ 3: How do caregivers experience their children's return to home care? RQ 3a: What challenges and needs do caregivers report? RQ 3b: What types of follow-up services do families receive and/or have access to? RQ 3c: How do caregivers cope with ongoing difficulties in the post-discharge period?


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years or older
* primary caregiver of a child or adolescent aged 7-21 years of any gender who received inpatient treatment in a psychiatric institution in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland (min. 24 h stay) within the past month (regardless of the diagnosis or the reason for the treatment, respectively)
* lived with the child or adolescent in the same household since discharge

Exclusion Criteria:

* another caregiver of the same child has already participated in the study
* insufficient knowledge of German

Primary outcomes:
measure: Inpatient readmission
timeFrame: Within 6 months
measure: Youth mental health
timeFrame: Change from baseline (T0) to 3-month (T1) and 6-month (T2) follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Youth health-related quality of life
timeFrame: Change from baseline (T0) to 3-month (T1) and 6-month (T2) follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Vienna
name: Martina Zemp, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: