Efficient Sufficiency: A qualitative evaluation of a 1 year pilot study of young people and parents accessing a mental health drop-in centre in a paediatric hospital.

Only 35 of the 128 invited pilot participants took part in the interviews, and interview participants were more likely to have been allocated to a brief psychological intervention (49% versus 21% of those not interviewed). Most interviewed participants were mothers (27/35), and most had completed the brief intervention (29/35), so fathers, young people and families who did not complete the intervention were less represented. Only 3 interviewed participants had not started the intervention, so their views could not be compared strongly with the rest of the sample. The wider pilot had no control group, so reported improvements may have happened because of time or other factors. One interviewer had delivered the intervention, which may have made the themes more positive; the team tried to reduce this by having another researcher interview participants he had treated. Respondent validation was completed by only 2 participants, so most participants did not check the themes. The study did not use validated measures of service use, so supports outside the project were not captured.

The authors declared no conflict of interest. The study was funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

Do not read this as evidence that the drop-in centre improved mental health. It was a qualitative study of what participants said, and several supports were often given together, so the contribution of any single part cannot be separated.