Bifactor model of psychopathology and the impact of routine intervention on the general psychopathology factor within a child and adolescent sample

Part 1 – The Conceptual Introduction: The conceptual introduction reviews the current evidence in order to better understand the extent to which the a general psychopathology factor is supported within a child and adolescent sample. Papers exploring the bifactor model of child and adolescent mental disorder were included in the review. Variations in factors included in the final models and the models’ validity and stability over time were also explored. The limitations of the studies were considered in terms of their generalisability to clinical practice in the NHS, therefore setting up the rationale for future research for focus of the empirical paper. Part 2 – The Empirical Paper The empirical paper aims to expand on the current evidence base supporting the notion of a general psychopathology factor within a child and adolescent sample. As well as exploring the potential impact of routinely administered intervention on the expression of child and adolescent psychopathology. The study utilised the Child Outcomes Research Consortium dataset to explore the best fitting model of psychopathology and the extent to which intervention predicted model factor scores at follow-up. Part 3 – The Critical Appraisal The critical appraisal addresses some of the issues related to the use of secondary data that arose while undertaking the research project. This includes the impact of data quality and completeness on the direction of the research and data analysis. As well as the how secondary data may impact on the extent to which the research may address the limitations of previous research and extend the current evidence base.