Sweetman, J., Knapp, P., McMillan, D. et al. (3 more authors) (2023) Risk factors for initial appointment non-attendance at Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services: a retrospective analysis. Psychotherapy Research, 33 (5). pp. 535-550. ISSN 1050-3307
Abstract
Background
Approximately 1.5 million referrals are made to Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services annually. However, treatment is received in less than half of cases due to ineligibility or non-attendance. The aim was to explore risk factors for non-attendance at the initial two IAPT appointments following referral.
Methods
An exploratory, retrospective analysis of referral and attendance data from five IAPT services in the North of England. Participants were 97,020 referrals received 2010–2014. Main outcome was attendance at the first two offered appointments (assessment and initial treatment).
Results
Based on data from two services, 66% of referrals resulted in assessment attendance. Across all five services 57% of patients who attended for assessment subsequently attended the first treatment appointment. The odds of attending an assessment appointment were more than 3 times higher for self-referrals than for GP referrals (OR 3.46, 95% CI 3.27–3.66, p < 0.001). Factors important to treatment appointment attendance following assessment were the service, referral source, presenting problem, and anxiety severity.
Conclusion
Initial appointment non-attendance is a consistent problem for IAPT services. Specific factors that may support IAPT services to improve non-attendance rates are identified. IAPT indicators of success should take account of non-attendance at initial appointments.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | brief psychotherapy; depression; anxiety; mental health services research; outcome research |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Economic and Social Research Council ES/J500215/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Dec 2022 16:33 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2024 09:14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/10503307.2022.2140616 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:194489 |