Psychosis Interest Network East Anglia

NIHR Health Technology Assessment; Jo Hodgekins (UEA), David Fowler (Sussex)

This study is testing a new therapy called Social Recovery Therapy (SRT) to help people with schizophrenia who struggle with social isolation and doing daily activities. There are limited treatment options for this group who often struggle to recover in existing services. The trial will compare usual care with and without SRT, aiming to see if SRT helps people spend more time in structured activities like work or education. Researchers will also look at mental health, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness. The study includes interviews to understand how the therapy works in real life, especially for underserved groups, and will help guide wider NHS use if successful.

NIHR Doctoral Fellowship - Sophie Allan (UEA)

Health inequalities exist across conditions, but are particularly apparent in psychosis. For example, people from minority ethnic groups have higher rates of psychosis and are much more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. This NIHR Doctoral Fellowship aims to understand these inequalities in more detail. The first part is a qualitative systematic review of psychosis treatment experiences from people from ethnic minority backgrounds (PROSPERO). The second part are a series of empirical studies examining the effects of ethnicity and neighbourhood effects (ethnic density, urbanicity/rurality, deprivation) on long-term (up to 15 year) psychosis outcomes, including hospital admissions, treatment (medication, psychological interventions) and mortality. We will be using the CRIS dataset from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust Research Database. Findings will be relevant to those interested in psychosis recovery and differences in outcomes between groups, including patients, carers, clinicians, and policy-makers.

The fellowship is supervised by Dr Sheri Oduola and Dr Jo Hodgekins.

NIHR Research for Patient Benefit - Miriam Fornells-Ambrojo (UCL); James Plaistow (CPFT)

Our overall research questions are whether it is feasible and acceptable to deliver, and test through a pilot randomised control trial, Narrative Exposure Therapy in Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) services to reduce symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); and whether preliminary evidence from this study is congruent with the intervention being effective. If feasible and promising evidence are reported, this will inform the evaluation of the effectiveness of this intervention in a future fully powered randomised controlled trial. This could increase the offer of trauma focussed interventions and improve outcomes for people in EIP, reducing delays in recovery and therefore expense and suffering for service users and their carers.

Clinical perspectives on sedation in psychosis (Ellen Holden – supervised by Sarah Reeve and Marco Vivolo)

• Who – NHS staff with at least 6 months experience working with psychosis

• What – online survey study (approx. 15-20mins)

• Further info – study link

Clinical perspectives on OCD in psychosis (Will Hinton – supervised by Jo Hodgekins and James Plaistow)

• Who – NHS staff with experience working with patients with comorbid OCD and psychosis

• What – online survey study

• Further info – study link

Clinical perspectives on post-partum psychosis (Beth Palmer – supervised by Jo Hodgekins)

• Who – NHS staff with experience of working with post-partum psychosis in last year

• What – online survey, identifying what is seen as important in treatment

• Further info – study link

Pathways to care after EIP (Claire Robinson – supervised by Sophie Allan, Sarah Reeve, James Plaistow)

• Who – any patient who has attempted (successfully or unsuccessfully) to access secondary mental health services after discharge from EIP

• What – qualitative online interview

• Further info – study link