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Administrative Procedures of the VIP Study (Information for Mind Therapists)
- Study Summary
The study's aim is to provide a collaborative intervention between the Metropolitan Police and Mind for older victims of crime to receive support and psychological treatment.
Step 1:
Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) across 9 London Boroughs will do a screening for eligible VIP Study participants from their regular older victim's caseloads using a brief questionnaire.
Eligible participants are given information about the study, and if they agree to take part, the SNTs obtain consent and forward the details to the UCL researchers for re-screening.
Older victims visited by the SNTs less than a week of the crime occurring will be followed up by the UCL researchers after two weeks to see if they are still in distress.
Step 2:
At 3 months, older victims referred by SNTs are re-screened (using the same questionnaire used by the SNTs) for any continued significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. Older victims with significant symptoms are then offered a fuller assessment using the MINI for diagnosis.
Step 3:
Those diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety (ascribed to the crime they were a victim of) are then entered onto the VIP database, where they are randomised into one of two groups:
- Treatment as Usual (where they are signposted back to their local care services )
or
- Treatment as Usual PLUS Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (in addition to being signposted, older victims will receive up to ten sessions - within a 3 month period - of modified CBT treatment with a community based Mind therapist)
Participants will be given the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to assess the effectiveness of the VIP intervention. This will be undertaken at 3 months post crime before the intervention, and then followed up at 6 and 9 months post crime. - CBT Referral Process
The CBT treatment phase starts from the date of randomisation.
This means that participants are referred for CBT as soon as they are randomised to the CBT treatment group. You - or your service administrator - will be contacted by email to confirm that the participant is indeed eligible for your services. The correspondence you will receive contains basic participant details, as well as information on how to use the online Data Safe Haven system. Please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence with the VIP Administrator.
You are required to contact the participant within two weeks after receiving their referral, to confirm an initial session date, location and time. Please inform the VIP Administrator when this has been done.
- CBT Scheduling
Use the CBT Appointment Schedule document to note down all - including those missed and/or rescheduled - session dates and times. Once all of the sessions have been completed, please return to the VIP Administrator.
- CBT Treatment Plan
You will need to attend a training day where details of the Victim Improvement Package will be provided, along with guidance and trial requirements.
Generally the 10 offered sessions will look as follows:
- Session 1 - a narrative of the crime, underlying beliefs, behaviours and how these have changed
- Session 2 - psycho-education about crime and an introduction to CBT
- Sessions 3-8 - mood diaries to identify unhelpful thinking and behaviours; guided discovery to challenge beliefs about crime, personal vulnerability and safety; behavioural experiments to challenge unhealthy avoidances
- Sessions 9-10 - relapse prevention
- Audio recording of CBT sessions
We would like sessions to be recorded for quality assurance purposes. This information is particularly important as we use it to see whether attendance affects treatment outcomes.
You will be informed if the participant has consented to audio recording during referral but please do confirm with the participant again if they are happy for you to record before proceeding to do so.
Participants who refuse to consent to recordings being made of their sessions can still receive therapy, but please inform the VIP Administrator should this occur.
After each session please upload the audio on to Data Safe Haven.
- Serious Adverse Events (SAEs)
Where participants show significant deterioration in mood, or suicidal intent, please follow the VIP Serious Adverse Events protocol.
You will also need to inform the VIP Administrator straightaway, and fill in a SAE Form and post in a hard copy to the VIP Administrator.
- Non-attendance and Withdrawal
Normal procedures apply when dealing with non-attendance, but please take into account that VIP participants may find attendance at their CBT sessions difficult due to physical limitations.
If for any reason, you cannot contact a participant or they inform you of their desire to withdraw from the study, please let the VIP Administrator know.
- After each session
After each session, the following should be completed:
1. CBT Components Checklist (please complete as you go along and upload on to Data Safe Haven after each session)
2. Upload session audio via Data Safe Haven (if the participant has consented to this)
3. CBT Appointments Schedule
Once the participant has completed all sessions of their therapy, please inform the VIP Administrator and upload the CBT Appointment Schedule sheet on to Data Safe Haven.
- Protocols and Therapists Manual
- VIP Trial Protocol
- VIP Trial Serious Adverse Events Protocol
- VIP Trial Administrator contact details
Please email all updates regarding participants (quoting their Participant ID) to dop.vipadministrator@ucl.ac.uk.
For general queries, you can email Alice Kember on a.kember@ucl.ac.uk
Please note: Alice is your primary UCL contact, please refrain from contacting any other member of the UCL team.
- Supervision Dates
Supervision is held every first Friday of the month at 9am and every third Tuesday at 2pm for an hour.
This space is where you can ask questions, raise concerns and most importantly LEARN from an accredited CBT therapist.
