Projects

AtR!Sk (dt. Abmulatoirum für Risikoverhalten und Selbstschädigung) at the University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Bern is a specialist outpatient service for adolescents (aged 12-17 years) with risky and self-injurious behavior. All patients of the service are invited to take part in the AtR!Sk cohort study. The study aims at examining the correlates and prognostic factors of risky and self-injurious behavior and personality pathology in help-seeking adolescents. In addition, individual predictors of treatment response are examined. The findings will inform early detection and treatment of adolescents with borderline personality disorder features.

Project manager: PD Dr Corinna Reichl

AtR!Sk (dt. Ambulatorium für Risikoverhalten und Selbstschädigung) at the University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Bern is a specialist outpatient service for adolescents (aged 12-17 years) with risk-taking and self-injurious behavior. With our short term intervention (the cutting down programme) many adolescents are able to reduce or cease self-injurous behavior. With our new parent intervention we offer not only the adolescents but also the parents treatment and investigate in a  randomized-controlled trial whether this helps to further improve family functioning.

Project Manager: MSc Sibille Steiner

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a common phenomenon in adolescent populations with suicide still ranking as one of the most frequent causes of death in this age group. The Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program (ASSIP; Michel & Gysin-Maillart, 2015) has been shown to reduce suicide attempts in adults. This manualized program focusses on therapeutic alliance, early warning signs and an emergency plan and applies cognitive and exposure based interventions. In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluate the efficacy of this treatment program as compared to safety planning (Stanley & Brown, 2012), another short time intervention program to prevent suicide attempts. This study is conducted in collaboration with the University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Zürich (PUKZH).

Project manager: Dr Christian Hertel

Suicide is the second most common cause of death in adolescents and young adults and almost 10% of this population report a suicide attempt at some point in their youth. In order to facilitate risk assessment of suicidal ideation and behavior in clinical practice, efforts to identify specific risk factors have been made, but recent research found prediction to still be only marginally above chance. Therefore, using new approaches to examine such behavior is key. The goal of the current study is to apply Ecological Momentary Assessment and Passive Mobile Sensing in an at-risk group of adolescents, as well as their parents and therapists, to identify proximal short-term predictors of suicide attempts and suicidal crises.

Project manager: M. Sc. Franziska Rockstroh

The aim of this project is to evaluate a treatment for children with acute mental disorders who require intensive therapy. Instead of inpatient therapy, however, the young patients in AT_HOME are treated with high frequency in their own homes by a team of child and youth psychiatrists, psychologists, special nurses and pedagogues. We call this “Home Treatment”. We are interested in both short-term and long-term treatment outcomes. In order to better classify and evaluate the results of home treatment, we compare them with the results of an active inpatient control group.

Project manager: M. Sc. Daniel Graf

The psychotherapeutic process is on the one hand driven by evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions that address specific symptoms or maintenance mechanisms of mental disorders and on the other hand by specific common factors such as the therapeutic alliance and expectations regarding treatment outcome. This project aims at developing and applying an instrument that continuously monitors the psychotherapeutic process in terms of outcome ratings (e.g. changes in psychosocial functioning level during treatment) and session ratings (process variables, e.g. therapeutic alliance). The aim is to investigate how the psychotherapeutic process is influenced by common therapeutic process factors in adolescents with different mental disorders.

Project manager: Dr Andrea Wyssen

Glucocorticoids (GC) in supranormal dosing have been used for decades in the treatment of paediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemias and lymphomas. Besides their positive anti-tumoral effects, GC also have emotional and behavioral side effects in children. We aim to detect and characterize the effects of GC treatment on emotional regulation and underlying biological mechanisms in paediatric patients. We will investigate patients undergoing a minimum 15-day therapy with GC before, during and after treatment (within-subject design) with psychological measures, analysis of hormonal reaction patterns in saliva, urine and blood and GC receptor genetics. This research project is conducted in collaboration with the Inselspital Bern, University of Bern.

P.I.: Dr. Mutlu Kartal-Kaess; project manager: Dr. Ines Mürner-Lavanchy

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is the deliberate destruction of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intention. NSSI predicts future suicide attempts, is associated with greater mortality and increased risk for suicide, even 15 years later. Despite growing public and scientific interest in the phenomenon of NSSI, there is still little understanding of the exact psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that promote maintenance of the behavior. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychological and neurobiological stress-response in patients engaging in NSSI and healthy controls. We use a combination of clinical, experimental and physiological measures, neuroimaging and ecological momentary assessment. The results of this project may make an important contribution regarding the prevention and treatment of self-injury in adolescence. This project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Project manager: Dr Ines Mürner-Lavanchy

In patients with hemophilia (PWH) A and B, the availability of clotting factor concentrates and the introduction of prophylactic home treatment in developed countries greatly improved clinical outcomes. As the life expectancy of PWH has increased, the management of comorbidities has become an area of greater focus within the hemophilia comprehensive care setting. Although most studies focused on somatic problems and complications, a small but growing body of work reports increased prevalence of mental health problems in PWH. To date, very little is known on factors that influence mental ill-health of PWH. In a Switzerland-based, multicentre, cross-sectional study, we aim to examine the relationship between hemophilia and comorbid mental health problems (including quality of life and psychosocial functioning) in different age groups using psychological interviews and questionnaires. This research project is conducted in collaboration with the Inselspital Bern, University of Bern.

P.I. Dr. Mutlu Kartal-Kaess, Prof. Dr. Johanna Anna Kremer Hovinga; Project manager: Dr Mutlu Kartal-Kaess

Sleep disturbances affect 80% of patients and can both exacerbate and result from mental health disorders. However, in child and adolescent psychiatric care, sleep problems are often perceived as symptoms and primarily treated with medication. Yet, current clinical guidelines recommend evidence-based interventions such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and light therapy. The goal of the SLEEPAC study is to test a therapy-adjunct, multimodal sleep intervention combining evidence-based approaches from CBT-I, light therapy, and physical activity counseling. Over a period of three months, young patients are supported through a blended-care model to positively influence their sleep-wake rhythm and improve sleep problems.

P.I. PD Dr. Christin Lang

Since 2012, the anorexia registry has been built up as a multi-center project in Germany. The aim of the register is to examine research questions with regard to cause, clinic and development of anorexia nervosa in order to optimize diagnostics and therapy. We have contributed to this registry since 2021.

Project manager: Dr Armita Tschitsaz

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by low body weight due to restricted food intake, a severe and persistent “fear of weight gain”, and a disturbance in body weight and shape perception. Consequently, weighing as a therapeutic rationale causes high stress responses. The aim of the WASA project is to examine the physiological and psychological stress responses to weight exposure in adolescents with anorexia compared to healthy pupils. In addition, changes in stress responses in patients during treatment and their impact on the treatment effect (operationalized by BMI percentile) will be examined.

Project manager: Dr Armita Tschitsaz

App-based interventions have the potential to improve health care situation as they entail several advantages such as increased accessibility, independence of time and location, as well as lower thresholds for accessing the health care systems. However, many existing apps do not take full advantage of technology, do not consider usability, are not sufficiently theoretically founded and do not tailor the intervention to the individual. In collaboration with the Inselspital Bern, this project aims at developing and implementing two personalized, parent-centered, guided app-based interventions to target parental behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and smoking. The primary endpoints are risk factors associated with asthma or obesity in children. The efficacy of the apps will be evaluated in two randomized controlled trials. Moreover, acceptance and usability of the apps will be investigated.

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Kopp (Inselspital Bern) & Prof. Dr. med. Michael Kaess (UPD Bern)

Project manager: PD Dr Andrea Wyssen

https://kinderklinik.insel.ch/de/lehre-und-forschung/forschung/elipse

Sleep disorders are closely linked to mental health conditions and can significantly worsen prognosis if left untreated. The SLEEPexpert Teens project integrates guideline-based treatment for insomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome—the most common sleep disorders in adolescence—into routine child and adolescent psychiatric care.

SLEEPexpert is an evidence-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) program developed for adult psychiatry, combining self-management with professional support. Building on this, SLEEPexpert Teens adapts the program for adolescents to improve sleep and reduce the use of non-guideline-based medication.

Following a pilot phase, the program will be implemented in ten clinics. Treatment teams will be trained, and a participatory evaluation involving adolescents, parents, clinicians, and researchers will assess feasibility and impact using interviews and screening and app-based data.

Findings will inform further refinement and a national dissemination strategy. Integrating sleep interventions into routine care strengthens sleep health as a core component of mental healthcare and can improve quality of life, academic performance, and social participation in young people. This project is funded by Health Promotion Switzerland.
 

PI: Prof. Michael Kaess, PD Dr. Christin Lang