Service configurations for psychosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Service configurations for psychosis – what works for whom in what combinations and contexts and why? A realist evidence synthesis with embedded co-production
IRAS ID
329320
Contact name
Sue Holttum
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christ Church University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
CRD42023432027, PROSPERO
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
Psychosis is a term for experiences such as hearing disturbing voices or extreme suspiciousness. There is increasing recognition that long-lasting stress and childhood experiences can play a role in causing psychosis. Research suggests it is helpful when services offer a range of therapies, involve people’s family or friends, and support people's life goals. However, precisely how this works is unclear, and not enough people have access to this type of service, especially ethnic minorities.
The National Institute for Health and Social Care is funding the project. We will use research and lived experience to explain how people draw on services, friends, family and other support to achieve their own definition of recovery. We will work with stakeholders (service providers, experts by experience and informal carers) to suggest how services can improve recovery across ethnicities, then plan service changes with stakeholders.
We will bring together research and stakeholder experience to produce explanations of how services enable recovery – ‘programme theories’. Whether a service works for a person can depend on circumstances. For example, if someone needs to feel safe to talk about past distressing experiences, this might only happen if service staff work with a trusted family member or understand their culture.
We will hold six stakeholder co-production workshops incorporating different geographical regions and ethnic groups. These will generate initial programme theories to help us focus on the right research. Later, 20 interviews will verify the final theories. We will work with stakeholders to design user-friendly findings-summaries for different audiences. We will also invite on-going stakeholder input via closed social media sites and email. We will plan service changes and follow-on research with stakeholders. We hope to see more people receiving the best help from early on and fewer people needing long term care.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
23/WS/0138
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion