Project details

Summary

What is the study about?

We are undertaking a research project about Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). SFBT is a psychological therapy that is offered by Liaison and Diversion (L&D) teams to young people who may be at risk of engaging in behaviours that could get them into trouble with the police.  

The therapy involves teaching new skills, and focusing on any problems that you 
are having such as problems at school, your relationship with family members, your mood or self-esteem.  

What are you trying to find out?

We are interested in finding out if Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is helpful, and so to do this, we are going to offer SFBT to half the children and young people who want to be in the trial, the other half will continue to get usual services. We will then look at the two groups after SFBT has finished and see if there are any differences.

Who will be in each group will be chosen at random, so like flipping a coin. Your chance of receiving SFBT will be 50/50.

Who is it for?

We are looking for participants who: 

• a young person who has recently been in trouble with the police. 
• a parent or guardian of a child who has been in trouble with the police

If you are under 16 we will need to ask your parent or guardian to agree that you can take part, but the decision about whether you take part will be yours. 

If you are 16 or over then we will not ask your parents or guardians if they would be happy for you to take part, and you will have the final say over whether you want to take part. 

What does taking part involve?

We’ll ask you, and your parent or guardian to fill in some questionnaires.

You will be told if you have been selected at random to receive SFBT or carry on with 
whatever services you would normally get.  

We will ask you, and your parent or guardian, to fill in some questionnaires about 6
months after you agree to be in the study, and again for some people  after 12-months.   

Finally, we will invite some (not all) young people and parents or guardians to take part in an interview. We will ask families questions about things they liked and did not like about SFBT, things they thought worked well, or not so well.  

• The questionnaires and interviews all take up to 1 hour. 
• We are inviting just under 300 young people to take part.
• We will keep your information private. 
• We will give you a £20 shopping voucher for completing the first questionnaire, a £30 shopping voucher for completing the second questionnaire, and a £10  for the third questionnaire even if you don’t get the chance to complete it. We will give your parent or guardian vouchers each time they complete a questionnaire.  

Why is it important? 

We cannot tell you that SFBT is better or more effective than usual services because we do not know.  But your participation is helpful to us and may be helpful to others.  

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page. 

If you are interested in taking part in the study, or if you have questions for the research team, click the button below to email us:

Email the research team