Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics

Kirsty James; Stephen Lisk; Chloe Payne-Cook; Zamena Farishta; Maria Farrelly; Ayesha Sheikh; Monika Slusarczyk; Sarah Byford; Crispin Day; Jessica Deighton; Claire Evans; Peter Fonagy; David Saunders; Irene Sclare; James Shearer; Paul Stallard; Timothy Weaver; Jynna Yarrum; Ben Carter; June S.L. Brown

doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08116-7

Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics

Kirsty James, Stephen Lisk, Chloe Payne-Cook, Zamena Farishta, Maria Farrelly, Ayesha Sheikh, Monika Slusarczyk, Sarah Byford, Crispin Day, Jessica Deighton, Claire Evans, Peter Fonagy, David Saunders, Irene Sclare, James Shearer, Paul Stallard, Timothy Weaver, Jynna Yarrum, Ben Carter, June S.L. Brown

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: The Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST) is an England-wide school-based cluster randomised controlled trial assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an open-access psychological workshop programme (DISCOVER) for 16–18-year-olds. This baseline paper describes the self-referral and other recruitment processes used in this study and the baseline characteristics of the enrolled schools and participants. Method: We enrolled 900 participants from 57 Secondary schools across England from 4th October 2021 to 10th November 2022. Schools were randomised to receive either the DISCOVER day-long Stress workshop or treatment as usual which included signposting information. Participants will be followed up for 6 months with outcome data collection at baseline, 3-month, and 6-month post randomisation. Results: Schools were recruited from a geographically and ethnically diverse sample across England. To reduce stigma, students were invited to self-refer into the study if they wanted help for stress. Their mean age was 17.2 (SD = 0.6), 641 (71%) were female and 411 (45.6%) were from ethnic minority groups. The general wellbeing of our sample measured using the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) found 314 (35%) of students exhibited symptoms of depression at baseline. Eighty percent of students reported low wellbeing on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) suggesting that although the overall sample mean is below the cut-off for depression, the self-referral approach used in this study supports distressed students in coming forward. Conclusion: The BESST study will continue to follow up participants to collect outcome data and results will be analysed once all the data have been collected. Trial registration: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN90912799. Registered on 28 May 2020.

Original language	English
Article number	302
Journal	Trials
Volume	25
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08116-7
Publication status	Published - 31 May 2024

Data Availability Statement

The chief investigator will act as custodian of the data in accordance with
legislation and the terms of the research sponsor (King’s College London) and
funder (National Institute for Health Research, UK).

Funding

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (project reference NIHR127951). JB, BC are part-funded by the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King\u2019s College London. This paper represents independent research and views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Funders	Funder number
National Institute for Health and Care Research
Health Technology Assessment	NIHR127951

Keywords

Adolescents
Baseline
Mental health
Open access
Recruitment
School based

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Pharmacology (medical)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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James, K., Lisk, S., Payne-Cook, C., Farishta, Z., Farrelly, M., Sheikh, A., Slusarczyk, M., Byford, S., Day, C., Deighton, J., Evans, C., Fonagy, P., Saunders, D., Sclare, I., Shearer, J., Stallard, P., Weaver, T., Yarrum, J., Carter, B., & Brown, J. S. L. (2024). Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics. Trials, 25(1), Article 302. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08116-7

Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics. / James, Kirsty; Lisk, Stephen; Payne-Cook, Chloe et al.
In: Trials, Vol. 25, No. 1, 302, 31.05.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

James, K, Lisk, S, Payne-Cook, C, Farishta, Z, Farrelly, M, Sheikh, A, Slusarczyk, M, Byford, S, Day, C, Deighton, J, Evans, C, Fonagy, P, Saunders, D, Sclare, I, Shearer, J, Stallard, P, Weaver, T, Yarrum, J, Carter, B & Brown, JSL 2024, 'Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics', Trials, vol. 25, no. 1, 302. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08116-7

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AU - Farishta, Zamena

AU - Farrelly, Maria

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AU - Day, Crispin

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Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST trial), a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of the DISCOVER workshop for 16–18-year-olds: recruitment and baseline characteristics

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this