Antipsychotic-induced MSEs: longitudinal interviews

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Behavioural determinants of developing antipsychotic-induced metabolic side effects: longitudinal interview study

  • IRAS ID

    335951

  • Contact name

    Sion Scott

  • Contact email

    s.scott@leicester.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Leicester

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 6 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    Four in 1000 people will get a severe mental illness in their lifetime. Antipsychotic medicines are good at treating severe mental illness but can cause weight gain, high cholesterol and high blood sugars, called ‘metabolic side effects’. These happen in half of the people taking antipsychotic medicines and can be so bad that the person stops taking the medicine and their mental illness gets worse. People who get metabolic side effects are at high risk of getting type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The better the medicine works at treating the mental illness the worse the metabolic side effects tend to be.

    Antipsychotic medicines can cause people’s behaviour to change which can cause metabolic side effects, e.g., eating more calories and/or doing less physical activity. We need a way of spotting when people’s behaviour changes and what the change is so that people can be given tailored support.

    Aim:
    To characterise the changes in behaviour that lead to the development of metabolic side effects when people start taking an antipsychotic medicine.

    Plan:
    We will interview 20 participants who have recently started taking, or about to start taking, an antipsychotic medicine to discuss their experiences. Participants will keep a diary over a four-week period and this will be used to guide the discussion in a short weekly interview with the researcher (four weekly interviews) to discuss any changes in behaviour they have noticed. A final interview will take place in the fifth week to summarise participants' experiences. Each participant can also invite a family member, friend, or carer to discuss their experiences of supporting them when they have started taking an antipsychotic medicine.

  • REC name

    Wales REC 7

  • REC reference

    24/WA/0089

  • Date of REC Opinion

    4 Apr 2024

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion