About OPTIMA and the STEPS app
Many children referred to mental health services struggle with their behaviour, which can be very difficult for parents. Timely access to advice and support for families, who face these kinds of challenges, is crucial. Yet, this is usually delivered face-to-face and only after a full clinical assessment following a months-long wait.
OPTIMA is a research programme organised by King’s College London and the universities of Nottingham and Southampton, in consultation with a group of parents of neurodiverse children and is funded by NIHR. It tests whether a new mobile phone app called STEPS can help families of children who show challenging behaviour. STEPS does not replace clinical support but gives parents access to additional help while they are waiting for a full clinical assessment.
We hope that STEPS will allow many more parents to quickly access vital parenting support.
OPTIMA recruitment is now
closed.
OPTIMA is a research programme taking place across three UK universities, in partnership with local mental health services for children and young people. You can learn more about our research team and collaborators on ‘The Team’ page
OPTIMA Programme – Find Out More
To find out more detail about the OPTIMA programme, including our research questions, recruitment methods, trial management and results, please visit ‘The OPTIMA Trial’ page.
STEPS App – Find Out More
To read more about the development and content of the STEPS app, as well as initial feedback on its usability, please visit ‘The STEPS app’ page.
Newsroom and Publications
Visit our ‘Newsroom and Publications’ page to read the latest news from the trial, as well as all our publications, presentations and blogs.
PPI
All high-quality health research will involve members of the public who have relevant lived experience of the research subject; this is known as PPI (public and patient involvement). We are incredibly proud to be working with a highly engaged group of parents who have been contributing valuable insights to OPTIMA. Read about them and their work here.