Milestone

(Improving the transition from child and adolescent psychiatry to adult psychiatry)

Transition, transition, KJP, young adults, therapy, healthcare system

Project coordinator:

Prof Dr Swaran P. Singh, University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Co-operation partner:

University of Warwick, United Kingdom

IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Italy

King's College London, United Kingdom

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, France

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Yulius Academie, Netherlands

Erasmus MC, Netherlands

University College Dublin, Ireland

Klinički Bolnički Centre, Croatia

HealthTracker Ltd, United Kingdom

Concentris Research Management, Germany

ZfP Südwürttemberg, Germany

Josefinum Augsburg, Germany

02/2014-01/2019

The MILESTONE project addresses the question of the extent to which medical-therapeutic services can be improved for young people who are making the transition from child and adolescent psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care to that of adulthood (transition). At the point in time when both systems should be working "hand in hand" in a well-coordinated manner, young people often reach their limits and a seamless continuation of professional help is delayed or does not materialise to their detriment.

Contents:

• Taking stock of transition within Europe
• Development and validation of specific research instruments to record the need for transition and its quality
• Conducting a combined follow-up study to examine the possible superiority of an accompanied transition
• Development and introduction of "training packages" in the context of further professional training
• Dissemination (transfer of knowledge and study results) in various forums (young people and their carers and partners, practitioners, scientific societies, politicians ...) as a basis for further, possibly intra-European developments
• Development of concrete recommendations

Description:

• Implementation of a comprehensive, systematic Europe-wide inventory and specialised training content on the topic of transition
• Standardised collection of data in 50 child and adolescent psychiatric facilities in eight European countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Croatia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany).
• Study participants: 1046 adolescents aged between 15 and 18 (110 from Germany, Ulm, Ravensburg and Augsburg) including their guardians/carers and therapists (doctors, psychologists, psychotherapists)
• A total of four data collections at intervals of 6 or 9 months
• Intervention arm: accompanied transition (analysis of the first data collection as a basis for feedback to therapists providing further treatment, initially not yet continuously in the adult care system)
• Economic evaluation of the intervention
• Development of guidelines on the topic of training
• Dissemination: publications of the results, participation in congresses and scientific events, public relations work)
• Current status: We are currently in the process of collecting follow-up data.

Fegert JM, Petermann F, Freyberger HJ (2015). Transitional psychiatry of adolescence and young adulthood". Journal of Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychotherapy , 63, pp. 151-153. https://doi.org/10.1024/1661-4747/a000234.

Mayr M, Kapusta ND, Plener PL, Pollak E, Schulze U, Freyberger HJ, Fegert JM (2015). Transitional psychiatry of adolescence and young adulthood". Journal of Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychotherapy (2015), 63, pp. 155-163. https://doi.org/10.1024/1661-4747/a000235.

Müller S, Salgo L, Kölch M, Fegert JM (2017). Coercive measures in psychiatric treatment - transition in the area of conflict between parental care and self-responsibility of the young person. Psychotherapist 01/2017.

Swaran Singh et al (2017). Protocol for a cohort study of adolescent mental health service users with a nested cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of managed transition in improving transitions from child to adult mental health services. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/7/10/e016055.full.pdf

European Union's Seventh Framework Programme no 602442