VISTAS-Qual
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Involvement of Family, Friends and Carers in Inpatient Mental Health Care: What Do Patients Want? Qualitative Interviews with Patients, Carers and Clinicians.
IRAS ID
206155
Contact name
Aysegul Dirik
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 2 days
Research summary
Studies have found that people using mental health services are more likely to stick to their treatment plans and have better outcomes when their supportive friends and family members (“carers”) are involved in their care. Most mental health guidelines and policies suggest that staff members should involve carers in patients’ treatment. Despite this, carers frequently report feeling excluded from patients’ care and from giving or receiving information about the patient. This is particularly a problem in hospital settings, when someone is admitted to an inpatient ward following a mental health crisis.
The difficulties that carers can face are well documented in published research. There are also lots of studies discussing staff members’ and researchers’ opinions about how best to involve carers. However, the thoughts and feelings of patients themselves have not really been explored in detail. As a result, there is almost nothing in the research literature which helps clinicians understand how patients want involvement to take place or which things might be important for them when making their decisions.
In this study, qualitative interviews will be conducted with twenty patients, twenty carers and ten clinicians to better understand the needs of patients in inpatient settings. All participants will need to have current or recent (within the past five years) experience of being in inpatient settings. Each interview is expected to last 45-120 minutes.
The interviews will be analysed using thematic analysis. The findings will be written up in a journal article, as well as being shared on social media.
This study is being conducted as part of an NIHR-funded Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF-2015-08-071) titled, “The involvement of family and friends in inpatient mental health care: what do patients want?”.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1292
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion