We aim to understand the extent to which children and young people’s care is helping them and how real-world evidence can support and improve child and youth mental health services. Once collected, we analyse data to assess the impact of using outcome measures, the effectiveness and efficiency of services and to answer key research questions. Our work in this area comprises:
- Analysing members’ data and reporting to them on the findings.
- Evaluating mental health, wellbeing and other interventions.
- Carrying out analysis using the CORC and other data sets to measure effectiveness, test hypotheses and discover new findings in order to generate evidence to underpin care.
- Collaborating with members and partners to conduct research.
Our most recent, ground-breaking report Child- and Parent-reported Outcomes and Experience from Child and Young People’s Mental Health Services presents the first detailed analysis of routinely collected data related to outcomes and experience of those seen in child and young people mental health services. It considers data from services involved in the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) programme (2011-2015), of whom many are CORC members, and further data from CORC members collected between 2007-2010. The report aims to advance understanding of the outcomes and experience of children assessing services, highlighting some of the challenges and considering the best ways to measure and capture outcomes in the future to improve mental health and wellbeing support.
The CORC team are currently carrying out further analysis of the data which informed this report, focusing on the following areas:
- different types of difficulty, such as anxiety and depression, and in relation to this change in outcomes and the impact of gender, age, length of problem, severity of problem, and other demographic factors such as socioeconomic status
- effect on outcomes by complexity factors, including experience of trauma and parent health
- outcomes in relation to 'needs-based' groupings, as set out in the organisation's work on the THRIVE Framework
- sources of variation in symptom change over time using session-by-session data.
Do you have a question that could be looked into using the CORC data set?
CORC aims to promote the use of routine outcome measures to improve practice and to understand the effectiveness of child mental health and wellbeing services by undertaking and supporting a range of research projects. We are keen to work with researchers and practitioners to explore the CORC data further, with a view to using the results to inform our members and the wider community of those supporting children and their families with mental health concerns. We encourage members and others to suggest research that uses the CORC data, to be carried out in collaboration with the CORC team. Where it makes sense to do so, we also consider research proposals for independent projects and can work with interns or students who are interested in conducting research using CORC data.
All research proposals need to be made in writing using this template. Proposals are assessed by the central team and put to the CORC Board for approval. Please note, proposals are reviewed on a monthly basis. Please contact corc@annafreud.org for more information.
CORC Research and Evaluation Consulting
We have a great track record of working on large-scale evaluations and are currently involved in one looking at new service specifications and models in Forensic CAMHS and the Secure Estate. CORC led on analysis of the national Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) data collection and analysis and has advised NHSE on the development of the minimum dataset and outcome metric. We also provide schools with analysis of their pupils’ wellbeing on a large scale.
We currently hold data relating to mental health and wellbeing outcomes of more than 400,000 children and young people in the UK, representing the largest data set of this kind worldwide. We work closely with service providers and academic institutions, including the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, University College London and the University of Manchester.
You can draw on our expertise via one of the following packages below.
Our CORC Research and Evaluation Consultants are world-leading experts in research and evaluation and would be delighted to work with you to understand your bespoke needs. Our end-to-end, bespoke support includes:
- Working with you to understand the questions you want answered
- Developing logic models to unpick the processes driving your work
- Advising and feeding back suitable evaluation approaches
- Considering quotes for evaluations and discussing how these can be tailored to your resources and needs
- Conducting evaluations drawing on over a decade’s experience
If you would like to speak to an advisor and discuss working with one of our CORC Consultants email us on CORCconsulting@annafreud.org, tel.: 020 7443 2225
Useful Links
CORC Research Library
A collection of articles and chapters written by members of the CORC team
Access here[Our report from CORC] is a powerful tool to show relatively small services how their data can be used on a "bigger level"
BACP