Optimizing Evidence Based Interventions (EBI) for children and adolescents in Norway

Norwegian municipalities are responsible for primary mental health care of children and adolescents, however, systematic procedures for systematic screening and providing Evidence Based Interventions (EBI) are lacking. Giving access to EBIs and improving these interventions through systematic feedback can address variations between municipalities and streamline referral to specialized services to ensure that all children have access to the best mental health care no matter where they live. The presentation will briefly describe the current situation in Norway with regards to mental health care and present online tools that have been launched to support the use of EBIs in mental health services and outpatient clinics for children and adolescents. This will be followed with a presentation of a new, integrated intervention that targets multiple but related emotional problems in a transdiagnostic approach, the EMOTION Coping Kids. This intervention is based on Phil Kendall’s “Coping Cat” program and runs in an intensive 10 weeks course in order internalize the coping skills necessary to produce lasting change. The presentation will close with a presentation of our latest project, the Echo study, where we will, among other things, develop and evaluate a Measurement and Feedback System (MFS) using a cluster randomized factorial design involving 40 schools across Norway. The aim of the Echo MFS is to support assessment and interventions related to emotional problems through feedback to service providers, thus optimizing the performance of services. The idea is that this MFS is free for use and can be combined with various interventions. In this way, Echo MFS could provide us with a platform for international research cooperation.