NOK 9 million to study on prevention strategies for children of parents with mental illness

The Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research has awarded NOK 9 million to Psykiatri Skåne, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and their IRMA study. The study will delve into the experiences of children with parents dealing with mental illness, to identify preventative strategies to mitigate the risk of these children facing similar issues in the future.

Identifying Risk and Resilience for Mental Illness during Childhood and Adolescence (IRMA) is a longitudinal study where children of parents with mental illness and their peers are followed from age eight to age 18.

Kavli Trust supports the first phase of the study, called Preventing Adversity in Children at Extreme Risk of Mental Illness.

The study maps out factors associated with the development of mental health in children who have parents with mental illness, and evaluates the effect of a digital prevention programme designed to promote good mental health in children.

Secures completion of first phase

“We are extremely grateful and humble to receive funding from Kavli Trust. This funding secures completion of the first phase of IRMA,” says principal investigator for IRMA at Psykiatri Skåne, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Matti Cervin.

“The IRMA study has high potential to improve our understanding of children of parents with mental illness and the effects of long-term mental health prevention, particularly among children at high risk of developing mental illness,” says Cervin.

Recruiting 592 children

The IRMA study has a specific focus on children where both parents have mental illness, placing them at a very high risk of developing mental disorders themselves.

The first phase of the study pertains to middle childhood (age 8-11) and three groups of children are followed: children where both parents have mental illness, where one parent has mental illness, and where no parent has mental illness.

In total, 592 children will be followed prospectively. 296 of the children are dually affected by parental mental illness, and half of these will be randomised to long-term prevention. Thus, IRMA combines the strengths of a longitudinal study and the strengths of a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Improving mental health literacy

The prevention programme of IRMA is based on the best current evidence regarding risk, promotive, and protective factors associated with the onset of mental illness and maintenance of mental health in childhood and adolescence.

The prevention programme also includes components aimed at improving mental health literacy, service use and social connectedness.

In the first phase of the study, the prevention programme is aimed at parents. As the children grow older, they will also partake in prevention.

Over time, the prevention programme will be updated and tailored to match the specific challenges and opportunities of each age period.

Well-planned and grounded

Programme Manager of The Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research, Jan-Ole Hesselberg, is excited to be able to add another solid project to its portfolio.

“The scope of the project is impressive, with several hundred families involved. It will provide important knowledge about children who live with parents with mental health issues,” says Hesselberg.

He particularly emphasises that the IRMA study is well-planned and firmly grounded in existing research, targeting children and adolescents at high risk of developing mental illness.

“Peer reviewers who assessed the application emphasise that the intervention appears promising and is well-tailored to the needs of the target group. Through the extensive selection process established by The Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research, we are confident that the project will close a knowledge gap and that the end user, be it patients, relatives or health professionals, will benefit from the knowledge,” says Hesselberg.

Hope it will benefit many children at risk

“We are pleased to announce that Matti Cervin and his team are among the recipients of new research funds from Kavli Trust,” says General Manager at Kavli Trust, Ingrid Paasche.

“We look forward to contributing to this important work, hoping that the study will benefit many individuals and families as well as society through generating new evidence on how to prevent and mitigate health challenges in children at risk when growing up with parents who are facing mental health issues,” says Paasche.

Designed to ensure useful research

Preventing Adversity in Children at Extreme Risk of Mental Illness was chosen as one of two projects awarded funding from The Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research call for proposals 2023, following a thorough application and review process.

The call for proposals and review of applications have followed the established guidelines for The Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research, which is specially designed to promote and ensure that the funds are allocated to useful research.

“To receive funding from the Kavli Trust is an honour, as the evidence gaps were derived using input from both stakeholders and researchers. The thorough review process has also helped us improve our project,” says Matti Cervin, adding:

“We hope that IRMA will benefit children of parents with mental illness and contribute to a better understanding of the development of mental health and illness more broadly.”

Including the 2023 allocations, the health research programme has allocated funds to a total of 17 research projects since its inception and first call for proposals in 2017. The total allocated amount is NOK 154 million allocated to a total of 17 projects, including the INACT study. The 2024 call for proposals is in progress according to the guidelines.

Summary of the project

Project name: Preventing Adversity in Children at Extreme Risk of Mental Illness.
The project will address the following evidence gaps:
5. What is the effect of interventions to reduce loneliness in children and adolescents?
7. What are optimal approaches in psychosocial interventions for preventing depressive symptoms in
children and adolescents?
Amount: NOK 9 million
Total project cost: NOK 16,283 million
Project period: July 2025 – July 2031
Host institution: Psykiatri Skåne, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Sweden)
Principal investigator: Associate Professor at Lund University and Senior Clinical Psychologist at CAMHS Skåne, Matti Cervin
Collaborating institutions: Lund University, Karolinska Institutet, Örebro University (Sweden)

Read more: Psykiatri Skåne website

About the application process

• A total of 38 evidence gaps were identified through a thorough process, starting with a strategic scientific committee carrying out updated searches for systematic reviews in selected databases to identify significant evidence gaps in child and adolescent mental health.
• A user panel consisting of patients, their carers and relevant health professionals ranked the 38 evidence gaps.
• Each user ranked which eight evidence gaps they considered most important, and which eight they considered the least important.
• The ten evidence gaps that were ranked highest by the user panel were included in the call for proposals for 2023.
• All applicants had to design studies addressing one or more of the ten selected evidence gaps. A total of 31 pre-proposals were submitted by the deadline of 15 March 2023. The pre-proposals were reviewed by the Kavli Trust Scientific Review Committee, which consists of five professionals with relevant and high academic and scientific standing.
• The pre-proposals were reviewed and ranked according to the following three criteria: Excellence, Impact, Quality and efficiency of the implementation
• At the end of May, the applicants of the ten highest-ranked pre-proposals were invited to submit full proposals.
• A total of nine full proposals were submitted.
• First, the members of the review committee individually scored the nine proposals.
• Second, the review committee members met and discussed the proposals in a panel meeting led by the managers of the Kavli Trust Programme on Health Research.
• The programme management presented their recommendations of which projects should receive funding to the Kavli Trust board of trustees in a meeting in November 2023.
• Finally, the Board of Trustees decided to allocate funding in line with the recommendations from the programme management.

Including this year’s allocations, the health research programme has allocated funds to a total of 17 research projects since its inception and first call for proposals in 2017. The total allocated amount is NOK 154 million allocated to a total of 17 projects, including the IRMA study.