Predictors of psychological treatment outcomes for CMHP in IAPT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Predictors of psychological treatment outcomes for common mental health problems (CMHP) in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service users
IRAS ID
297739
Contact name
Alexandra Schmidt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
Common mental health problems (CMHP), such as depression and anxiety disorders, are highly prevalent in adults, with 1 in 5 people being affected. CMHP are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and decreased quality of life. This is particularly relevant to the population in the present time as population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon. In the UK, it is estimated that by 2030, 1 out of 5 people in the UK will be aged 65+ years. Life expectancy has risen more quickly than healthy life expectancy and time spent in poor health has increased.
Psychological treatments, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) have been reported to be effective in the treatment of CMHP. Some studies report recovery rates increasing with age, however, others report less favourable outcomes for older compared to working age adults and overall, treatment is only effective for just over half of the treated adults of any age.
The identification of predictors of psychological treatment outcomes could have beneficial clinical applications, such as effectively adjusting treatment to individual patients, and would be an important step to ensure protection and improvement of mental health and associated quality of life in both younger and older adults.
A recent systematic literature review conducted by this team of researchers into treatment outcome predictors identified factors across different domains, such as psychosocial (e.g. coping style), clinical (e.g. baseline symptom severity), treatment-related (e.g. number of sessions attended), neurobiological (e.g. cognitive flexibility) and socio-demographic (e.g. education).
In this study we want to investigate the predictors of outcome of psychological treatments for CMHP in adults (18+ years) in the IAPT services. Participants will be asked to complete an online questionnaire and two optional cognitive function tests before starting their treatment. The primary outcome measure will be symptom severity for the condition being treated.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0387
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jan 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion