Reducing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis in the United States: The Impact of Screening and Systematic Communication

ID#: NCT05509998

Age: 12 - 30 years

Gender: All

Healthy Subjects: No

Study Phase: N/A

Recruitment Status: Enrolling by invitation

Start Date: May 01, 2023

End Date: April 30, 2027

Summary: The goal of this project is to investigate whether a systematic screening approach enhanced by an innovative model of communicating information about psychosis and treatment options to patients and families (ComPsych) can reduce Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) by facilitating early identification of first episode psychosis (FEP) cases, rapid referral to specialty care and engagement in treatment. The study team will use a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial design to compare a systematic screening and communication method (SCM) to systematic screening method (SM) to evaluate whether SCM substantially reduces DUP. The study team hypothesize that: (1) SCM will result in a higher number of individuals initiating specialty services compared to SM; (2) The mean DUP of FEP individuals in SCM condition will be lower than the mean DUP of FEP individuals in SM condition, due to the reduced time to initiate FEP services. We will also conduct a qualitative study to examine implementation barriers and facilitators of SCM.
Eligibility:

Inclusion Criteria:

- age 12- 30

- ability to participate in assessments in English or Spanish

- ability to provide informed consent (assent for those under age 18)

Exclusion Criteria:

- previous diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, or delusional disorder.