Summary

The i-THRIVE programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people’s mental health by supporting sites across the country to implement the THRIVE conceptual framework (Wolpert et al., 2016).

i-THRIVE supports CCGs, NHS Trusts and local authorities across the country to take the core principles of the THRIVE framework and adapt them into a local model of care that fits with their local context. Sites are taken through the i-THRIVE Approach to Implementation and are coached and supported at each stage to successfully deliver the key elements. They can also build capacity locally by attending learning and development modules delivered by the i-THRIVE Academy. i-THRIVE is an NHS Innovation Accelerator programme.

Website: www.implementingTHRIVE.org

We are evaluating the impact of i-THRIVE by assessing the impact of implementing THRIVE in ten accelerator sites against comparison sites, as well as the effectiveness of the translation and implementation process.

The aims of the i-THRIVE evaluation are:

• To evaluate whether the i-THRIVE Approach to Implementation can be replicated at other sites
• To evaluate the effects of using the i-THRIVE Approach to Implementation when compared to sites without i-THRIVE
• To evaluate whether more effective use of the i-THRIVE Approach to Implementation is associated with greater improvements in CAMHS services

The i-THRIVE team have entered into partnership with NHS Benchmarking team to collect data on key site-level outcomes at baseline and at three follow up points over two years. As well as collecting data from the accelerator sites, site-level outcomes data is also collected from ten comparable non-i-THRIVE sites that have been matched for demography, resource and clinical variables. Collecting and analysing this data will allow us to evaluate whether implementation of THRIVE leads to improvements in the delivery of CAMHS services.

The site level data collected is service performance data that directly relates to each of the five needs based groupings of THRIVE and to shared decision making.

In addition to site level data collection, semi structured interviews based on the THRIVE Assessment Tool are undertaken with accelerator sites. This allows sites to assess how THRIVE-like their systems are at regular points and allows us to track progress made in the implementation of THRIVE principles that should underpin all service redesign.

Principal Investigators: Anna Moore, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust & Peter Fonagy, UCL

Start date and duration: February 2017, 2 years

Partners and collaborators involved: UCL, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, UCLPartners, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice

Follow us on Twitter: @iTHRIVEinfo