Almost a year after Northwestern launched the Mental Health, Earlier Center with an $11.7 million National Institute of Mental Health grant, the center’s team is looking to bring its work into the world with its first implementation trial.
The center is co-directed by University of Utah Prof. J.D. Smith and Feinberg Prof. Lauren Wakschlag who is also director of Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences.
Wakschlag described DevSci’s work as “accelerating developmental discovery to real world impact,” with the center being just one example of closing what she calls the “research-to-practice gap.”
“It often takes nearly two decades, from when you build a tool or a new intervention, to actually impact people,” Wakschlag said.
At the core of the center’s research is the Peds-BRITE project, which focuses on developing a childhood mental health risk calculator called the DECIDE tool.
The purpose of the tool is to support pediatricians in identifying children who are vulnerable to mental health challenges and provide resources to their caregivers, scientific project director of Peds-BRITE Jordan Lee said.
The DECIDE tool looks at constructs, like child irritability; adverse childhood experiences, like trauma and abuse; and family relationships, Lee said.
“Pediatricians have so much that they have to do within a visit, and it’s hard to find time during a visit to focus (on preventive signs),” Lee said. “We hope that (the DECIDE tool) is encouraging clinicians to be able to take a more well-rounded or holistic view of the child’s development and environment in an easy and feasible way.”
The center has started working with Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware and members have been making monthly visits to meet with pediatricians, Lee said.
Lee is working with clinical partners to integrate the DECIDE tool into their health record systems.
The current vision is for parents to fill out pre-visit screening questions, Lee said. Pediatricians will receive this report and advise families on how to navigate mental health discussions, she said.
Family Check-Up Online is one resource that pediatricians can direct caregivers to. The mobile app offers modules on promoting toddler self-regulation and connects caregivers with behavioral health specialists to navigate the service.
Other project teams at the MHE center such as TEAM4Access and Project SPARK are working to optimize the discussion of childhood mental health between clinicians and caregivers, said center executive director Aeysha Chaudhry.
TEAM4Access is designing a Tele-Monitoring Program with ECHO-Chicago to train clinicians on how to sensitively approach mental health topics with families, while Project SPARK is designing short intervention sessions where families can speak with professionals prior to using Family Check-Up Online.
“There’s still a lot of stigma against mental health,” Chaudhry said. “For me, I think this moves the dial forward in terms of getting people to think about mental health earlier. In my mind, that could help so many communities start to feel more comfortable and understand how important mental health is to physical health.”
The center originally hoped to run trials in two pediatric health systems but had to downsize due to the $790 million federal funding freeze affecting NU research.
Wakschlag, however, remains positive and says the center’s mantra is to “stay focused on the work.”
“We feel incredibly fortunate that Northwestern has their commitment to support the ongoing research during the freeze. It’s very hard now. It would have been devastating,”Wakschlag said.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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