AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grantee: Dr. Karolin Krause
Karolin Krause is a postdoctoral research fellow and methodologist with the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Her research focuses on the measurement of treatment outcomes for common youth mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, and on how to make measurement meaningful to youth, families and clinicians. Karolin is particularly interested in the measurement of outcomes that go beyond psychiatric symptoms, such as improved functioning in daily life or improved coping skills. Karolin’s work further seeks to help streamline measurement approaches (e.g. the choice of measurement scales) across research studies to enable research syntheses. Karolin has been involved in several initiatives to develop measurement standards, including as a research fellow with the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), as a co-investigator with the IN-ROADS and COMPACT initiatives at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and as an advisor with the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders.
Karolin obtained her PhD from University College London in 2020. Her thesis used mixed methods to examine perceptions of “good outcome” and outcome priorities in the research literature, and amongst youth, parents, and clinicians in relation to youth depression. Before starting her PhD, Karolin spent five years conducting policy and program evaluations on behalf of the UK Department for International Development, and with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – often having to negotiate outcome priorities with various stakeholder groups. Karolin holds an MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, and a BA in Sociology from the Georg-August University of Göttingen in Germany.
Project Summary: When diagnosing common mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, substance use, or self-harm, or when evaluating treatments, clinicians and researchers must consider both the severity of mental health symptoms, and the extent to which these symptoms cause functional impairment – that is, limitations in a young person’s ability to take part in activities of daily life. Impairment is central to clinical and public health decision-making. Yet, while symptom measurement is comparatively well developed in youth mental health, the measurement of impairment has been neglected. One critical gap is a lack of data about how youth experience impairment and whether available measurement scales meaningfully capture their experiences (i.e. have “content validity”). Another challenge is a lack of youth-centred and easily interpretable indicators that can help us make sense of change in impairment scores on any given scale.
My research program at the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression seeks to address these gaps. I am currently finalizing a scoping literature review to identify all functional impairment scales that are available in youth mental health. Building upon this previous work, my program will involve two strands. As part of the first strand, I will conduct focus groups with culturally and gender-diverse youth aged 14-24 years with lived experience of anxiety, depression, substance use or self-harm to explore what impairment means to them. Together with youth as co-researchers I will then develop a check-list to assess how relevant and comprehensive existing scales are in capturing impairment in line with young people’s perspectives and experiences. As part of the second project strand, I will aim to determine the minimally important change (MIC) indicator for two commonly used impairment scales. The MIC is an easy-to-interpret threshold that indicates whether or not a young person’s functioning (or other outcome of interest) has improved by the minimum amount that is considered important by youth themselves. I will determine the MIC using data from two intervention trials that involved youth aged 13-18 years, using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis and predictive modelling.
This research addresses urgent knowledge gaps regarding the content validity and interpretability of impairment scales. It will inform future efforts to identify the most suitable scales to recommend for the meaningful and youth-centred assessment of impairment in youth mental health.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. KRAUSE HERE
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Dr. Guss is a 35-year veteran educator with a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. She served as a classroom teacher for 10 years, including two years as a teacher in a bilingual program in South Central Los Angeles. She has also served as a college professor, mentor teacher for new teachers, and a master teacher for teacher candidates completing their student teaching experience. She continues to be a strong advocate for the teaching profession.
Fellowship: Stanford University School of Medicine (1994) CA
Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the supervising psychologist for the Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than seven hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
is 15 years old and a sophomore at Marina High School in Marina, CA. Her academic interests include math, history, and psychology. She joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 because she wanted to be a part of something that could have a great impact on her community. Marwa is interested in youth mental health because she has always been fascinated with the human mind and she wants to support those that are suffering who may feel like their challenges in life aren’t important enough or are too afraid to seek necessary help.
Giovanna Panetta is a 16 year old junior at Carmel High School. She has always been called to STEM subjects, specifically biology. The AIM Ideas Lab instantly attracted her attention as a research opportunity. Gia has always comprehended the importance of mental health. She knows that COVID only exacerbated previously existing problems, and that as a community we can try and find the root of those problems. Mental health is an integral part of life, and can impede a body’s ability to be healthy. She strongly believes that life is worth living, and she wants to help anyone that thinks otherwise.
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Citlalli Nava is 18 years old and a first year majoring in Psychology at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA. She is passionate about understanding how mental health affects how youth think, act, and feel. Citlalli joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 after witnessing the increase in mental health challenges in teenagers and considering the mental health issues they are facing. Citlalli is interested in youth mental health because it is a real problem faced by her generation.
Clinical and community psychologist and health care innovator Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, is CEO of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. With more than 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as members, APA promotes and disseminates psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives – a mission consistent with Evans’ life work.
