Using intervention mapping to develop an occupational therapy informed intervention for adolescents experiencing mental health difficulties

Current interventions provide limited success in managing mental health in adolescents with emerging difficulties. We describe using the Intervention Mapping framework to co-develop a novel occupational therapy theory-informed intervention for adolescents with emerging mental health difficulties, addressing the need for interventions tackling activity-related determinants.

We describe a mixed-method, multiphase, sequential study design informed by the six-step Intervention Mapping framework, to develop the Activity Time Use intervention. Involving a systematic scoping review, time-use survey, qualitative focus groups and Delphi consensus process informing the construction of an intervention logic model of the problem, the logic model of change and creation of an intervention programme.

An eight-session intervention addresses three behavioural change outcomes: improving the balance of daily activities, improving occupational choice making abilities and improving occupational performance. The programme was positively reviewed through Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) consultation against the seven aspects of acceptability (Sekhon et al., 2017). Next steps include exploring the environmental determinants affecting implementation in different intervention delivery settings and full user acceptability.

This study has provided a real-world example of intervention-mapping, systematically developing an occupational therapy intervention to empower adolescents to adopt healthier time-use behaviours to improve their mental health.