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CHAPTER 2 26 30]. Knowledge about the expectations of parents and adolescents regarding barriers to care may provide direction to improve the help-seeking and treatment process. METHODS Study design We used data from the first measurement wave of the community sample of a large prospective cohort study called TakeCare [28, 31]. TakeCare is conducted by the Collaborative Centre on Care for Children and Youth (C4Youth) and is designed to investigate the trajectories and outcomes of children aged 4-18 receiving psychosocial care in one Dutch region. The design was assessed by the Medical Ethical Committee of the University Medical Center Groningen, and approved without needing full assessment. Informed consent was obtained from all participating respondents. Sample and procedure We used a stratified random sample of school children and pupils ( N =1025), obtained via five primary schools, two secondary schools, and one school for intermediate vocational education, recruited by taking into account the distribution of children and adolescents across the study region according to their age, gender, socioeconomic position, and degree of urbanization. Parents/caregivers of children aged 4-18 years old and adolescents (age ≥ 12) were invited to participate between April 2011 and June 2013. Children with insufficient understanding of Dutch, living outside the northern region, or following special education because of intellectual disability were excluded ( N =77). Of the eligible 948 respondents, 666 participated, i.e., either the child and/or the parent (response 70.3%). The main reasons for non-participation were opting out ( N =99). Differences between respondents and non-respondents were small for age, gender, degree of urbanization, and severity of psychosocial problems (the latter based on one impact-question of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) [32]), with Cohen’s effect sizes ranging from 0.02 (psychosocial problems) to 0.08 (degree of urbanization). Differences between respondents and children in the community were small for age and gender, with effect sizes being 0.00 and 0.01, respectively [28]. Data were obtained from parents/caregivers and adolescents via web-based or paper questionnaires, and, if needed, we provided assistance in filling out the questionnaire. Participants were frequently reminded about filling out the questionnaire, and returned questionnaires were checked for completeness in order to reduce the chance of missing data. Participants were rewarded with a gift card worth ten euros.