Implementing routine sexual and reproductive health screening into an Australian child and youth mental health service: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.
Julie A Blake, Joseph Debattista, Isabella Andersen, Shuohui Rao, Emma Hart, Nicole Gorden, Scott Harden, Meenakshi S Shanmugam, Mia Molan, Dallas Pitt, Nidhi Krishnan, Kannan Kallapiran, James G Scott
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Abstract
Background: Adolescents living with mental illness are more likely than their peers to engage in risky sexual behaviours such as unsafe sexual practices or drug misuse, which can result in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unplanned pregnancies and sexual coercion or violence. One barrier to these adolescents receiving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care is a lack of skills and confidence of mental health clinicians to discuss SRH concerns. Integrating SRH care for adolescents attending mental health services may facilitate access to timely screening and treatment.
Methods: This pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial involves an educational intervention to train mental health clinicians to conduct brief SRH screening with adolescents (12-17 years) with complex mental health needs attending a child and youth mental health service (CYMHS). The educational intervention is complemented with a referral pathway for a nurse-led SRH consultation where indicated through screening. The study aims to examine the preliminary feasibility and effectiveness of the educational intervention by measuring the number of referrals by clinicians who receive the training for SRH nurse-led consultations compared to untrained clinicians and to measure changes after training in clinician knowledge, skills and confidence to discuss SRH needs of young people accessing the CYMHS. The acceptability of SRH screening and nurse-led SRH consultations in CYMHS will be assessed through qualitative interviews with clinicians, adolescents accessing CYMHS, and their parents.
Discussion: There is an unmet need for care for adolescents living with mental illness who have SRH concerns. This trial seeks to assess the preliminary feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of a service-wide SRH educational intervention which aims to improve access to SRH care for adolescents accessing CYMHS.
Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12624001462572. Registered on 16 December 2024. https://anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12624001462572.aspx .
期刊介绍：
Trials is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that will encompass all aspects of the performance and findings of randomized controlled trials. Trials will experiment with, and then refine, innovative approaches to improving communication about trials. We are keen to move beyond publishing traditional trial results articles (although these will be included). We believe this represents an exciting opportunity to advance the science and reporting of trials. Prior to 2006, Trials was published as Current Controlled Trials in Cardiovascular Medicine (CCTCVM). All published CCTCVM articles are available via the Trials website and citations to CCTCVM article URLs will continue to be supported.
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