Cognitive De-Biasing and the Assessment of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

NCT01799291 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2KR401204-MMJ
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The primary aim is to test the efficacy of a new intervention to improve clinical judgment. The investigators focus on the assessment of pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), a controversial diagnosis with frequent diagnostic errors, by educating mental health professionals in common cognitive pitfalls and training them in recommended de-biasing strategies. The investigators hypothesize that the Treatment group will show higher diagnostic accuracy than the Control condition: Participants receiving the cognitive de-biasing intervention will be less likely to commit faulty heuristics and race/ethnicity bias. Secondary aims include soliciting feedback about whether the skills were useful when diagnosing the vignettes, and whether skills and cases seem clinically realistic.

Conditions

Decision Making; Bipolar Disorder

Keywords

Decision Making; Pediatric Bipolar Disorder; Assessment; Intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Diagnostic accuracy

  Participants in treatment and control conditions report vignette characters' probable diagnoses after reading each vignette. These diagnoses were rated on a 3-point Likert scale of (1 = inaccurate diagnosis, 2 = somewhat accurate, and 3 = accurate diagnosis) using criteria established by the research team (which includes expert diagnosticians).

  one time, immediately following Web-based presentation(s)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Clinician attitudes toward intervention

  one time, immediately after Web-based intervention

Study Arms (2)

Treatment: Decision Making Tutorial

OTHER

A brief presentation on mood disorders (i.e., Control condition) combined with the intervention (i.e., Treatment condition): a 20-minute training on decision-making errors and cognitive de-biasing strategies.

Behavioral: Decision Making Tutorial

Control

NO INTERVENTION

A brief presentation about mood disorders.

Interventions

Decision Making Tutorial BEHAVIORAL

A web-based presentation focused on key "cognitive de-biasing" strategies, including helping clinician participants: consider alternative diagnoses (e.g., symptom checklists); decrease reliance on memory (e.g., mnemonics); and incorporate Bayesian reasoning (e.g., actuarial approaches).

Treatment: Decision Making Tutorial

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Participants need to be: (a) licensed or currently supervised by a licensed mental health professional; and, (b) have experience treating child and adolescent patient populations for mental health issues.

You may not qualify if:

• Not meeting criterion (a) or (b) above.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: lead
• North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Bipolar Disorder

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Bipolar and Related Disorders; Mood Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Melissa M Jenkins, M.A.

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Eric A Youngstrom, Ph.D.

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: DIAGNOSTIC
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 24, 2013
• First Posted: February 26, 2013
• Study Start: September 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2013
• Study Completion: August 1, 2013
• Last Updated: April 25, 2017

Record last verified: 2013-09

Locations

US (1)