Evaluation of a child-centred psychosocial healthcare intervention (KIDPROTEKT) – results of a cluster randomized controlled trial in paediatric and gynaecologic practices

ABSTRACT KID-PROTEKT is a child-centred psychosocial healthcare intervention which aims at improving the identification of psychosocial needs and navigation in the outpatient gynaecologic and paediatric setting. In this cluster randomized-controlled trail we examined the effect of KID-PROTEKT on the referrals (to support services) in comparison to the regular gynaecologic and paediatric outpatient healthcare . A variant based on the qualification of the healthcare providers (qualified treatment, QT) and a variant with social worker (supported treatment, ST) were compared to the regular healthcare (treatment as usual, TAU). Twenty-four gynaecologic and paediatric practices were randomized to one of three study arms. Therefore 8,458 pregnant women and families recruited in one of these practices were enrolled in the study. Participating patients reported on average 1.73 (SD = 1.34) psychosocial risks. In total 522 patients were linked to a support service. Compared to TAU, the probability of a referral was significantly higher in QT (OR = 10.70) and ST (OR = 11.28). Also, a higher number of psychosocial risks were linked to a referral (OR = 2.72). These findings support the importance of a psychosocial assessment in the gynaecologic and paediatric setting.