RESPECT Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The RESPECT Study (Randomised Evaluation of Sexual health Promotion Effectiveness informing Care and Treatment): a feasibility study of an intervention aimed at improving the Sexual Health of People with Severe Mental Illness
IRAS ID
211013
Contact name
Elizabeth Hughes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Huddersfield
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN15747739
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 29 days
Research summary
People with serious mental illness (SMI) have significant needs in terms of physical health compared to general population. Initiatives have commenced to address this, however sexual health has been missed off the agenda. People with SMI aspire to have safe and satisfying sexual relationships, however the reality for people with SMI is often more bleak. They are more at risk of sexually acquired infections such as HIV and hepatitis C (and B) and more likely to face violence and exploitation in their relationships. An examination of published studies has looked at whether there are any ways of working that can show that they help promote sexual health. This found that all the studies were from USA, and were very different in how they had been delivered. This has made it difficult to know what might help people with their sexual health needs in the UK. Therefore, there is a need to develop a package of care (intervention) that is relevant to the needs of people with SMI in the UK, and establish whether this is practical, acceptable and useful for people with SMI. Practical issues in establishing such a study will also be examined. This study was commissioned by the organisation that funds research which as benefit to the NHS. People who agree to take part will be randomly allocated to care as usual, or to care as usual with the additional RESPECT intervention. We will collect information on how many people we are able to sign up to the study, the numbers of people who drop out along the way, missed appointments for the intervention, as well as trying out the questionnaires chosen to assess sexual health knowledge, motivation, behaviour. We will interview a small group of people about their experience of being part of the study.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0334
Date of REC Opinion
30 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion