Estimating the prevelance of PTSD in older people
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An estimation of the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in older adults supported by community mental health services
IRAS ID
332891
Contact name
Elizabeth Tyler
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Trauma and psychological difficulties linked to trauma (e.g., Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) are common but often overlooked in older adults that access NHS mental health services. This means that many older adults with lived experience of trauma, and especially those with more complex needs, do not receive sufficient support and continue to suffer as a result of the impact of trauma.
The purpose of the study is to provide a more realistic estimate of the prevalence of trauma in older adults supported by community mental health teams (CMHTs), adapting methodologies that have been successfully used in working-aged adult research (e.g., de Bont et al. 2015).
The aim is to recruit 100 older adults from three local NHS trusts; Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. Interested individuals will be asked to meet with the researcher on one occasion which will take approximately 30 minutes to consent into the study and complete two brief trauma/ PTSD questionnaires (Life Events Checklist, Weathers et al., 2013; International Trauma Questionnaire, Cloitre et al., 2018). Participants will also be asked to provide consent for research workers to examine their clinical notes once the assessment has been completed to check correspondence between clinical information on file and the results the PTSD assessments. Participants will not need to be present when the clinical note screen takes place.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
23/IEC08/0043
Date of REC Opinion
12 Dec 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion