Client perceptions of unhelpful aspects of CBT within IAPT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Client perceptions of unhelpful aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) within Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) serving an inner city/deprived area.
IRAS ID
210837
Contact name
Joanna Omylinska-Thurston
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
MHSCT Research & Innovation Department
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is the main provider of psychological therapy for adults within the NHS. Recent studies identified that around 44% of IAPT clients dropped out of therapy (NHS Digital, 2016) and about 5.5% of clients reported lasting negative effects from treatment (Jackson, 2015). As IAPT is publicly funded it seems important to explore these findings due to significant ethical and economic implications. As Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)is the main modality within IAPT, focusing on CBT should give the most comprehensive explanation. Although there is extensive evidence for the effectiveness of CBT, Bohart & Tallman (1999) found that it is the client who is directly responsible for change in therapy. Therefore it seems important to explore how clients' perceive the helpfulness of CBT in order to understand the reasons behind the drop out rates and adverse effects in IAPT. There are several studies exploring what clients find helpful in CBT (e.g. Clarke et al, 2004) but the literature search did not reveal any studies related to unhelpful factors suggesting that this is an under-researched area. As unhelpful factors in CBT as identified by clients will have direct impact on their therapy outcomes (Jackson, 2015), it seems an important area to focus on.
In terms of methodology, clients will be recruited from IAPT, Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust. When clients indicate that CBT was not helpful to them they will be offered a chance to take part in the study. Methods will be qualitative and involve semi-structured interviews with 5 clients. The interviews will explore aspects of CBT that clients did not find helpful. The interviews will be recorded and transcribed. Thematic Analysis (Braun et al, 2006) will be used for the analysis.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0517
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion