Identification of the delivery of cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) using a cross-sectional sample from electronic health records and open-text information in a large UK-based mental health case register.

Objective Our primary objective was to identify cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivery for people with psychosis (CBTp) using an automated method in a large electronic health record database. We also examined what proportion of service users with a diagnosis of psychosis were recorded as having received CBTp within their episode of care during defined time periods provided by early intervention or promoting recovery community services for people with psychosis, compared with published audits and whether demographic characteristics differentially predicted the receipt of CBTp. Methods Both free text using natural language processing (NLP) techniques and structured methods of identifying CBTp were combined and evaluated for positive predictive value (PPV) and sensitivity. Using inclusion criteria from two published audits, we identified anonymised cross-sectional samples of 2579 and 2308 service users respectively with a case note diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis for further analysis. Results The method achieved PPV of 95% and sensitivity of 96%. Using the National Audit of Schizophrenia 2 criteria, 34.6% service users were identified as ever having received at least one session and 26.4% at least two sessions of CBTp; these are higher percentages than previously reported by manual audit of a sample from the same trust that returned 20.0%. In the fully adjusted analysis, CBTp receipt was significantly (p<0.05) more likely in younger patients, in white and other when compared with black ethnic groups and patients with a diagnosis of other schizophrenia spectrum and schizoaffective disorder when compared with schizophrenia. Conclusions The methods presented here provided a potential method for evaluating delivery of CBTp on a large scale, providing more scope for routine monitoring, cross-site comparisons and the promotion of equitable access.