Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb 28:13:823186.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.823186. eCollection 2022.

Clinical Implementation and Evaluation of Three Implementation Interventions for a Family-Oriented Care for Children of Mentally Ill Parents (ci-chimps): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Multicenter Trial

Carolin Laser  1 , Anna Modarressi  1 , Bjørg Eva Skogøy  2 , Andrea Reupert  3 , Anne Daubmann  4 , Alexandra Höller  4 , Antonia Zapf  4 , Silke Pawils  5 , Svenja Taubner  6 , Sibylle Winter  7 , Darryl Maybery  8 , Silke Wiegand-Grefe  1
Affiliations

Clinical Implementation and Evaluation of Three Implementation Interventions for a Family-Oriented Care for Children of Mentally Ill Parents (ci-chimps): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Multicenter Trial

Carolin Laser et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: In Germany, approximately three million children under the age of eighteen have a mentally ill parent. These children are at an increased risk of developing a mental illness themselves (1) as well as a physical illness (2). While research has identified numerous evidence-based family-oriented interventions, little is known about how to implement such interventions effectively and efficiently in clinical practice in Germany. This implementation study (ci-chimps) evaluates three clinical implementation projects with three different implementation interventions for the optimal implementation of the tailored family-oriented preventive and therapeutic interventions in the CHIMPS-NET (children of mentally ill parents-research network) with an implementation model for children of mentally ill parents.

Methods: A two-group randomized controlled multicenter trial will examine changes in family-oriented practice and aspects of implementation at baseline as well as at 12- and 24-months follow-up. The CHIMPS-Network consists of 20 clinical centers. The centers in the intervention group receive the support of all of the three implementation interventions: (1) optimal pathways to care, (2) education and a training program for professionals, and (3) systematic screening for children. The centers in the control group do not receive this specific implementation support.

Discussion: While we know that children of mentally ill parents are an important target group to be addressed by preventive and therapeutic interventions, there is often a lack of structured implementation of family-oriented interventions in clinical practice in Germany. Using a randomized controlled multicenter trial design with a large and wide-ranging sample (clinics for adult psychiatry and clinics for child and adolescent psychiatry, university clinics and clinics at the real health care) will provide a robust understanding of implementing family-oriented changes in German clinical practice.

Trial registration: The CHIMPS-NET-study was registered with the German Clinical Trials Register on 2019-12-19 (DRKS00020380) and with Clinical Trials on 2020-4-30 (NCT04369625), the ci-chimps-study was registered with the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00026217) on 2021-08-27, the Clinical Trials registration is in review process.

Keywords: children of mentally ill parents; family implementation interventions; implementation research; multicenter trial; randomized controlled trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The CHIMPS-NET Implementation Model [based on (22) and first published (25)] for the health care for children and their mentally ill parents.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study design.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Plass-Christl A, Haller AC, Otto C, Barkmann C, Wiegand-Grefe S, Hölling H, et al. . Parents with mental health problems and their children in a German population based sample: results of the BELLA study. PLoS ONE. (2017) 12:e0180410. 10.1371/journal.pone.0180410 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pierce M, Hope HF, Kolade A, Gellatly J, Osam CS, Perchard, et al. . Effects of parental mental illness on children's physical health: systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry. (2020) 217:354–63. 10.1192/bjp.2019.216 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wiegand-Grefe S, Halverscheid S, Plass A. Kinder und Ihre Psychisch Kranken Eltern: Familienorientierte Prävention-der CHIMPs-Beratungsansatz. Göttingen: Hogrefe; (2011).
    1. Wiegand-Grefe S, Cronemeyer B, Plass A, Schulte-Markwort M, Petermann F. Comparison of mental abnormalities in children of mentally ill parents from different points of view: effects of a manualized family intervention. Kind Entw. (2013) 22:31–40. 10.1026/0942-5403/a000096 - DOI
    1. Wiegand-Grefe S, Werkmeister S, Bullinger M, Plass A, Petermann F. Health-related quality of life and social support of children with mentally ill parents: effects of a manualized family intervention. Kind Entw. (2012) 21:64–73. 10.1026/0942-5403/a000071 - DOI

Associated data