Implementation Evaluation of Mindfulness for Adolescents and Carers (MAC). Work package within ATTEND: Adolescent and carers using mindfulness Therapy To END depression.

There are currently around 140,000 15–19-year-olds experiencing depression, with an estimated 35,000 young people accessing NHS treatment for depression.  

Of these about 14,000 don’t respond to treatment and 8,000 are likely to experience depression again, even after successfully being treated.  

These young people have a high risk of substance-misuse, self-harm, school, or relationship difficulty, as well as poor adult mental and physical health.  

Parenting a teenager with depression can be challenging and can affect the way families communicate and support each other. Teenagers whose parents have depression are more likely to experience mental health problems themselves as they grow older. 

More treatment options are needed. 

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Therapy (MBCT) combines training in mindfulness meditation with principles from cognitive therapy. It teaches skills to recognise early warning signs of depression, avoid repetitive thinking patterns that make depression more likely, and respond in ways that protect mental health.  

Currently MBCT is recommended for adults who have experienced three or more depressive episodes but its been relatively untested in teenagers.  

Mindfulness for Adolescents and Carers (MAC) has been specifically developed for teenagers, aiming to help them with depression. There is also a parent/carer group that runs alongside this, which aims to support parents and carers to cope better.   

What is this project doing?

This project will explore what helps or makes it harder for MAC (Mindfulness for Adolescents and Carers) to be delivered successfully in healthcare settings across the UK. We will look at: 

• how staff are trained, supported and supervised to deliver MAC, and what services need to have in place to help the programme work well 

• which parts of the programme are most important to young people and their carers who take part 

• what staff delivering MAC and service managers think is needed to make sure the programme can be delivered successfully in different locations over the longer term 

What do you hope to achieve or change?

This project aims to understand what helps or makes it harder for MAC to be delivered successfully in different healthcare settings. 

We will use what we learn from young people, carers, staff delivering MAC and service managers to develop practical guidance on how organisations can set up and deliver a MAC programme. This guidance will include recommendations to support services to introduce MAC in a way that works well for the people delivering and receiving the programme, helping more young people and their carers access this support in the future. 

External Collaborators

Anna Hunt, University of Exeter, ATTEND Research Assistant Clare Brook, University of Exeter, ATTEND Research Assistant
Professor Tamsin Ford, ATTEND Chief Investigator, University of Cambridge
Katrina Nellist, Patient and Public Involvement co-app

Partner Organisations

Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust 
University of Cambridge 
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 
King’s College London 
University of Surrey 
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 
Sussex Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 
University of Oxford