A Trial of Multisystemic Therapy in UK a Statutory Therapeutic Intervention for Young Offenders

To evaluate whether Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is more effective in reducing youth offending and out-of-home placement in a large, ethnically diverse, urban U.K. sample than an equally comprehensive management protocol; to determine whether MST leads to broader improvements in youth sociality and in mediators believed to be responsible for change in MST.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Participants Are Male and Female Adolescents 13-16 Years at Risk for Continuing to Commit Criminal Offences.
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Multisystemic therapy; Other: YOT (usual services)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 108
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, NW5 3LG
    • The Brandon Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 16 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age between 13 and 16 years;
• living in the home of and being brought up by a parent or principal caretaker;
• on a court referral order for treatment or a supervision order of at least 3 months' duration, or, following imprisonment, on license in the community for at least 6 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

• being a sex offender;
• presented only with substance misuse;
• diagnosed with a psychotic illness or posed a risk to trial personnel;
• incompatible agency involvement (e.g., ongoing care proceedings).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Multisystemic therapy; MST is a family- and community-based intervention that establishes close contact with families to understand and deal with the factors that cause the young person's antisocial behaviour. The intervention targets the individual's adjustment, family relationships, school functioning and peer group affiliations. Therapists help caretakers develop skills to intervene and operate changes in important domains such as young person's individual adjustment, their family relationships, school functioning, and peer group affiliations.	Other: Multisystemic therapy
Active Comparator: YOT (usual services); YOT intervention consisted of services currently available to young offenders in accordance with the Youth Justice Board National Standards.These services included supporting the young person to re-engage with education, with substance misuse problems and anger management; training them in social problem-solving skills; and programs to decrease vehicle-crime, violent-offending and knife crime. The treatments were delivered by professional social workers, specialist therapists or probation officers.	Other: YOT (usual services)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in offending behavior based on police records of criminal offenses committed	The number of records of offending behavior (count data) was obtained, and 6-month periods free of any offending behavior were also recorded (binary data). Records were obtained from the National Young Offender Information System (YOIS) database. YOIS records detail offence information, court appearances, criminal orders, police custody records, and arrest rates.	baseline and 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months post randomization

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
self- and parent-rated symptoms of antisocial behavior, delinquency-linked cognitions, personality functioning, and parenting variables	Antisocial behavior was assessed using the Self-Report of Youth Behavior (SRYB), a brief, valid measure of the prevalence and incidence in pre-adolescent and adolescent children of delinquent behavior such as vandalism, theft, burglary, and fraud; and the delinquency and aggression subscales of the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the parent-completed Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).	baseline and 6 months after randomization

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Antisocial Beliefs and Attitudes Scale (ABAS)	Baseline and 6 months after randomization
Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD)	Baseline and 6 months after randomization
Measure of youth's involvement with delinquent peers (IDP)	Baseline and 6 months after randomization
Measure of Positive Parenting and Disciplinary Practices, Parent Monitoring and Supervision	Baseline and 6 months after randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Brandon Centre, London

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Butler S, Baruch G, Hickey N, Fonagy P. A randomized controlled trial of multisystemic therapy and a statutory therapeutic intervention for young offenders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;50(12):1220-35.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.09.017. Epub 2011 Nov 6. Erratum In: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Mar;51(3):337.

Helpful Links

• Related Info

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: November 1, 2003
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Anticipated): February 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 18, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 23, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): October 24, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 24, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 23, 2012
• Last Verified: October 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: multisystemic therapy, RCT, young offenders, U.K.
• Other Study ID Numbers: MSTBC2012 (Other Identifier: Brandon Centre)