The Online Support and Intervention (OSI) tool is a therapist-guided, parent-led online Cognitive Behaviour Therapy programme for children aged 5-12. Developed by Professor Cathy Creswell, Paul Foundation Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology, the online therapy will be adapted and tested in five countries across Asia and South America, with the aim of driving widespread implementation in the future, helping children and families access effective mental health support in countries where services are often limited.
Trials in the UK have shown OSI to be both clinically and cost effective, reducing therapist time while delivering excellent outcomes for children.
With £7 million in funding from Wellcome, the project will see researchers and clinicians in seven countries, including Japan, Chile, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand, working together with commercial partners and lived experience experts to adapt, test, and deliver OSI. Reaching 1,600 children, the team aims to ensure that OSI works in a variety of contexts and can be rolled out quickly and sustainably at scale.
The Global Health Network (TGHN), based in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, will coordinate collaboration and capacity building across participating countries to promote effective collaboration and embed equity throughout the research and implementation programme.
Commenting on the efficacy of the tool, Professor Trudie Lang, Head of The Global Health Network, Nuffield Department of Medicine said: "We are excited to be collaborating on this important project. This is about taking a remarkable innovation that has shown impressive benefit to young people and their mental health in UK clinical trials, and assessing through a multi-centre trial whether this can be a useful tool globally in the fight against mental health challenges in young people."
This collaboration between the Nuffield Department of Medicine and the Department of Experimental Psychology brings together expertise in global research delivery and mental health science, demonstrating the power of cross-departmental partnerships at Oxford.
Professor Cathy Creswell concluded, "OSI is proven to be an efficient and effective treatment for anxiety disorders in children in the UK, so it is very exciting to be able to make it available to children and their families in other countries across the world. Our collaborative and multidisciplinary team of experts will help us ensure we adapt and refine the tool so it can be implemented at scale in a variety of contexts, so that more children and their families can benefit as quickly as possible."