Evaluating a Modular Approach to Therapy for Children With Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH) in School-Based Mental Health Care: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Sherelle L Harmon; Maggi A Price; Katherine A Corteselli; Erica H Lee; Kristina Metz; F Tony Bonadio; Jacqueline Hersh; Lauren K Marchette; Gabriela M Rodríguez; Jacquelyn Raftery-Helmer; Kristel Thomassin; Sarah Kate Bearman; Amanda Jensen-Doss; Spencer C Evans; John R Weisz

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.639493

Evaluating a Modular Approach to Therapy for Children With Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH) in School-Based Mental Health Care: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 5:12:639493. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.639493. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Sherelle L Harmon^{1

2}, Maggi A Price^{1

3}, Katherine A Corteselli¹, Erica H Lee^{4

5}, Kristina Metz⁶, F Tony Bonadio⁷, Jacqueline Hersh⁸, Lauren K Marchette⁹, Gabriela M Rodríguez¹⁰, Jacquelyn Raftery-Helmer¹¹, Kristel Thomassin¹², Sarah Kate Bearman¹³, Amanda Jensen-Doss², Spencer C Evans^{1

2}, John R Weisz¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States.
² Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States.
³ School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁶ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁷ The University of Maryland School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, United States.
⁹ Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, United States.
¹² Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
¹³ Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Schools have become a primary setting for providing mental health care to youths in the U.S. School-based interventions have proliferated, but their effects on mental health and academic outcomes remain understudied. In this study we will implement and evaluate the effects of a flexible multidiagnostic treatment called Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH) on students' mental health and academic outcomes. Methods and Analysis: This is an assessor-blind randomized controlled effectiveness trial conducted across five school districts. School clinicians are randomized to either MATCH or usual care (UC) treatment conditions. The target sample includes 168 youths (ages 7-14) referred for mental health services and presenting with elevated symptoms of anxiety, depression, trauma, and/or conduct problems. Clinicians randomly assigned to MATCH or UC treat the youths who are assigned to them through normal school referral procedures. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of MATCH compared to UC on youths' mental health and school related outcomes and assess whether changes in school outcomes are mediated by changes in youth mental health. Ethics and Dissemination: This study was approved by the Harvard University Institutional Review Board (IRB14-3365). We plan to publish the findings in peer-reviewed journals and present them at academic conferences. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02877875. Registered on August 24, 2016.

Keywords: anxiety; children and adolescents; conduct problems; depression; modular treatment; randomized controlled effectiveness trial; school-based intervention; trauma.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT02877875