Developing a web-based application for non-mental health specialists to assess young people in forensic services

We have recently completed a UK wide project funded by the RCN Foundation and led by the University of Huddersfield in partnership with South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust and nursing and other colleagues from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Recent research findings suggest there is high demand on specialist mental health services for Children and Young People (CYP). Proactive early intervention services provided by non-mental health services can help in meeting the needs of CYP while relieving the pressure on more specialist Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Non Mental-Health Nurses (Non-MHNs), including specialist CYP nurses, school nurses, health visitors, prison nurses and ED nurses are well placed to provide screening and assessments of CYP in a variety of settings. These assessments can reduce CAMHS referral rates and lead to effective, stand-alone interventions for some service-users, while also informing signposting and referral to CAMHS and encouraging self-management.

Digital solutions have been recommended to enhance the existing knowledge and skills of Non-MHNs to make the most of early intervention opportunities and subsequently relieve pressure on CAMHS1.

Therefore, the primary aims of this project were to: Understand which assessment schedules/tools enhance and complement the therapeutic relationship between the CYP and the nurse; and, Develop a web-based app holding a dataset of evidence-based assessment tools for non-specialist nurses to use in a variety of educational, health and social care settings.

Based on literature review, interviews and two stages of focus group consultations and field testing with end-users, we developed a decision support application, HAMHA: Huddersfield Assessment of Mental Health App. The evidence based app will be freely available for Non-MHNs and allied professionals for use in clinical practice early 2023.
The project has definite potential for scaling up and in the first instance we need to validate in real time clinical practice and then consider wider application in voluntary and non-healthcare settings such as children’s homes, youth support services, young offenders institutes and schools.

There is already strong interest in the app internationally, including for use in forensic and prison services and we plan to fully explore the potential for expanding the work overseas through attendance at IAFMHS conference in June 2023.