Background: Parent-led cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an intervention that aims to help parents or caregivers to support their child who is experiencing anxiety. The approach supports and guides parents to implement strategies to help reduce their child’s fears and worries. One intervention delivered in Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) is by Cresswell and Willets (date) and is an intervention involving the parent reading a self-help book and attending weekly support sessions with an Educational Mental Health Practitioner. It forms part of the Mental Health Support Team in Schools (MHST) core offer in CWP, with referrals made via schools. Evidence shows that this intervention is effective but there has been no examination of how it has been implemented.

Aim: To evaluate the implementation of parent-led CBT for anxiety in primary school children in Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The study is funded by the NIHR Mental health Implementation Network over 14 months. The study is due to report in early 2024 and the findings will be used by the Trust to inform service development.

Method: Qualitative interviews with staff and families referred to parent-led CBT intervention in three MHSTs in CWP, Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Crewe. We will conduct a total of 15 interviews with MHST staff and school staff and 15 interviews with families. We will also collect any available routinely collected Trust data about referrals, intervention declines, and dropouts. Interview data will be audio/video recorded and transcribed. A thematic framework analysis approach will be used with coding framework informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, Proctor’s Implementation Outcomes, and Normalisation Process Theory. Routinely collected data will be analysed using descriptive statistics.

Public participation and involvement have been sought via ARC NWC public advisers, PPI groups held in the three sites and input from the Mental Health Implementation Network national level PPI stakeholders.

If you would like to find out more about the project, please contact kberzins@uclan.ac.uk