• Peter Bower, Chris Roberts, Neil O'Leary, Patrick Callaghan, Penny Bee, Claire Fraser, Chris Gibbons, Nicola Olleveant, Anne Rogers, Linda Davies, Richard Drake, Caroline Sanders, Oonagh Meade, Andrew Grundy, Lauren Walker, Lindsey Cree, Kathryn Berzins, Helen Brooks, Susan Beatty, Patrick Cahoon, Anita Rolfe, and Karina Lovell.
• NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, England. peter.bower@manchester.ac.uk.
• Trials. 2015 Aug 13; 16: 348.

BackgroundInvolving service users in planning their care is at the centre of policy initiatives to improve mental health care quality in England. Whilst users value care planning and want to be more involved in their own care, there is substantial empirical evidence that the majority of users are not fully involved in the care planning process. Our aim is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of training for mental health professionals in improving user involvement with the care planning processes.Methods/DesignThis is a cluster randomised controlled trial of community mental health teams in NHS Trusts in England allocated either to a training intervention to improve user and carer involvement in care planning or control (no training and care planning as usual). We will evaluate the effectiveness of the training intervention using a mixed design, including a 'cluster cohort' sample, a 'cluster cross-sectional' sample and process evaluation. Service users will be recruited from the caseloads of care co-ordinators. The primary outcome will be change in self-reported involvement in care planning as measured by the validated Health Care Climate Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes include involvement in care planning, satisfaction with services, medication side-effects, recovery and hope, mental health symptoms, alliance/engagement, well-being and quality of life. Cost- effectiveness will also be measured. A process evaluation informed by implementation theory will be undertaken to assess the extent to which the training was implemented and to gauge sustainability beyond the time-frame of the trial.DiscussionIt is hoped that the trial will generate data to inform mental health care policy and practice on care planning.Trial Registration NumberISRCTN16488358 (14 May 2014).

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