Our group aims to investigate why some children and adolescents develop mental health problems. Our focus extends to researching the organisation, delivery, and effectiveness of services and interventions for children and young people’s mental health.
Tamsin Ford is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She is an internationally renowned Child Psychiatric Epidemiologist who researches the organisation, delivery, and effectiveness of services and interventions for children and young people’s mental health.
Her work is inherently translational and cross-disciplinary, and focuses on how to promote mental health, prevent mental ill-health and respond effectively to children and young people who are currently struggling. After completing her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, she moved to Exeter University Medical School in 2007, where she helped to recruit mental health researchers working across the life-span in addition to developing a thriving Child Mental Health Research Group. She recently moved to the University of Cambridge.
Tamsin’s research covers the full range of psychopathology and agencies, practitioners and interventions that relate to the mental health of children and young people. Every interaction with a child presents an opportunity to intervene to improve their developmental trajectory. Her work has direct relevance to policy, commissioning and practice.
For example, papers relating mental health to exclusion were extensively referenced in the Timpson report (2019) and she lead the clinical rating for the national child mental health survey, which provided child mental health statistics for the NHS Plan.
Tamsin has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals (BMJ, Lancet Psychiatry, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry), and been awarded in excess of £25 million funding from various funders, including NIHR, MRC, Wellcome and ESRC. With over 16,000 times citations (H index 54), she has received numerous awards, including a CBE for services to Psychiatry (2019), Students Guild Best Post-Graduate Research Supervisor (2013) and Margaret Davenport Prize (oral presentation, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2001). She provides research advice to Place2Be and is a board member of ACAMH.
Selected publications
Development of measures
Ford, T., Hutchings, J., Bywater, T., Goodman, A., & Goodman, R. (2009). Evaluation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Added Value Score as a method for estimating effectiveness in child mental health interventions. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 194, 552-557. (51 citations)
Methodology
Russell, G., Mandy, W., Elliott, D., White, R., Pittwood, T., & Ford, T. (2019). Selection bias on intellectual ability in autism research: A cross-sectional review and meta-analysis. Molecular Autism, 10(1). doi:10.1186/s13229-019-0260-x (7 citations)
Price, A., Janssens, A., Dunn-Morua, S., Eke, H., Asherson, P., Lloyd, T., & Ford, T. (2019). Seven steps to mapping health service provision: Lessons learned from mapping services for adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the UK. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). doi:10.1186/s12913-019-4287-7 (0 citations)
Eke, H., Ford, T., Newlove-Delgado, T., Price, A., Young, S., Ani, C., Sayal, K., Lynn, R., Paul, M. & Janssens, A. (2019). Transition between child and adult services for young people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): findings from a British national surveillance study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1-7. doi:10.1192/bjp.2019.131 (1 citation)
Epidemiology
Ford, T., Goodman, R., & Meltzer, H. (2003). The British child and adolescent mental health survey 1999: the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 42(10), 1203-1211. (1366 citations)
Snell, T., Knapp, M., Healey, A., Guglani, S., Evans‐Lacko, S., Fernandez, J. L., Meltzer H., & Ford, T. (2013). Economic impact of childhood psychiatric disorder on public sector services in Britain: estimates from national survey data. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(9), 977-985. (101 citations)
Education and mental health interface
Goodman, R., Gledhill, J., & Ford, T. (2003). Child psychiatric disorder and relative age within school year: cross sectional survey of large population sample. BMJ, 327(7413), 472. (120 citations)
Downs, J., Gilbert, R., Hayes, R. D., Hotopf, M., & Ford, T. (2017). Linking health and education data to plan and evaluate services for children. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 102 (7), 599-602. (12 citations)
Fazel, M., Hoagwood, K., Stephan, S., & Ford, T. (2014). Mental health interventions in schools in high-income countries. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(5), 377-387. (176 citations)
Ford, T., Hayes, R., Byford, S. Edwards, V., Fletcher, M., Logan, S., Norwich, B., Pritchard, W., Allen, K., Allwood, M., Ganguli, P., Grimes, K., Hansford, L., Longdon, B., Norman, S., Price A. & Ukoumunne O. C. (2019). The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management programme in primary school children: results of the STARS cluster randomised controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 49(5), 828-842. doi:10.1017/S0033291718001484 (10 citations – published protocol 51 citations, published 2012)
Questionnaires
“How I Feel About My School” (HIFAMS) questionnaire
Awards and Honours
- CBE Awarded for services to psychiatry June 2019.
- Nominated and voted one of Exeter’s 100 most influential women February 2018
- FRCPsych Awarded for an exceptional contribution to psychiatry by the Royal College of Psychiatrists 2014.
- Best supervisor for post-graduate research nominated and voted by student; University of Exeter Student Guild Teaching Award 2013
- Margaret Davenport Prize for the best trainee’s presentation at the annual residential meeting of Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists 2001.