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  • Assessing the impact of mental health difficulties on young people’s daily lives: protocol for a scoping umbrella review of measurement instruments

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Mental health
Protocol
Assessing the impact of mental health difficulties on young people’s daily lives: protocol for a scoping umbrella review of measurement instruments
  1. Karolin Rose Krause1,2,
  2. Sophie Chung3,
  3. Terri Rodak4,
  4. Kristin Cleverley5,6,
  5. Nancy J Butcher7,8,
  6. Peter Szatmari1,8
  1. 1 Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2 Research Department for Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
  3. 3 Independent Health Researcher, London, UK
  4. 4 CAMH Library, Department of Education, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  5. 5 Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  6. 6 The Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth & Family Mental Health, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  7. 7 Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  8. 8 Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Peter Szatmari; peter.szatmari{at}utoronto.ca

Abstract

Introduction An important consideration for determining the severity of mental health symptoms is their impact on youth’s daily lives. Those wishing to assess ‘life impact’ face several challenges: First, various measurement instruments are available, including of global functioning, health-related quality of life and well-being. Existing reviews have tended to focus on one of these domains; consequently, a comprehensive overview is lacking. Second, the extent to which such instruments truly capture distinct concepts is unclear. Third, many available scales conflate symptoms and their impact, thus undermining much needed analyses of associations between the two.

Methods and analysis A scoping umbrella review will examine existing reviews of life impact measures for use with children and youth aged 6–24 years in the context of mental health and well-being research. We will systematically search six bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the COSMIN database of systematic reviews of outcome measurement instruments), and conduct systematic record screening, data extraction and charting based on methodological guidance by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Data synthesis will involve the tabulation of scale characteristics, feasibility and measurement properties, and the use of summary statistics to synthesise how these instruments operationalise life impact. The protocol was registered prospectively with the Open Science Framework (osf.io/ers48).

Ethics and dissemination This study will provide a comprehensive road map for researchers and clinicians seeking to assess life impact in youth mental health, providing guidance in navigating available measurement options. We will seek to publish the findings in a leading peer-reviewed journal in the field. Formal research ethics approval will not be required.

  • Review
  • outcome measure
  • functioning
  • health-related quality of life
  • well-being
  • children
  • adolescents
  • mental health
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054679

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @KrauseKarolin, @ClevKristin, @NancyJButcher

    • Contributors KRK, SC, KC, NJB and PS were responsible for study conception and design. KRK drafted the manuscript. TR designed the search strategy with input from KRK and PS, and led the database search. All authors provided feedback on the study design and manuscript, and approved the final manuscript prior to its submission.

    • Funding This research is supported by the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression. This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public will be involved in the conduct of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.