Be a part of research

Service users, families, carers and staff are being asked to help us to identify the top 10 research interests for adult community mental health care.

The research team has created a survey to use in a study as part of our research development objectives.

We are interested in knowing the issues and concerns that staff, service users and their families feel need to be explored by research.

This can include a wide range of topics, from mental health symptoms and day-to-day living challenges to support and treatment interventions, as well as the provision of mental health services.

The survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete and will contribute significantly to our understanding and improvement of adult community mental health care form a research perspective.

Complete the feedback form here. 

Email  gabriel.abotsie@nsft.nhs.uk  for more information about the study.

Looking for: People aged 16 to 25 years of age who either have an eating disorder (or think they may have one), or have no history of an eating disorder (healthy volunteer).

Location: Online

Information about the study

STORY is exploring the diverse experiences of young people with eating disorders. How do symptoms progress over time? What helps or hinders recovery? This information will allow us to deliver more personalised and effective interventions for young people with eating disorders in the future. 

What will taking part involve: Participants in this study will complete online surveys and tasks on a computer or smartphone at different times, download two apps onto their smartphone and optionally wear a device on their finger to measure heart rate and sleep.

Contact the research team

If you have any questions about the study, please contact the research team using the details below (Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm):

Researchinfo@nsft.nhs.uk

01603 421397

Need more information? Willing to take part?

 

Looking for: People aged 16 and above who have experienced, or are experiencing any eating disorder and live in England.

Location: Online

Info about the study

What will taking part involve? Taking part in this study will involve completing some questions which will ask about your demographics (e.g. age, gender and employment situation), emotional wellbeing, health and lifestyle, personality and experiences of an eating disorder. Following this you will be sent a kit to take a saliva sample, which you will then need to send back to the study team via pre-paid post.

Contact the research team

If you have any questions about the study, please contact the research team using the below email address:

Researchinfo@nsft.nhs.uk

Need more information? Willing to take part?

For further information see: https://edgiuk.org/ 

Age: 18-65

Interview: 1 x online or face to face interview on your experience of the discharge process from mental health wards.

Location: online or face to face

Info about the study : Around 50,000 people leave mental healthcare hospitals every year. Being discharged from mental health inpatients is high risk in terms of relapse, readmission, and suicide. Many find the process of discharge overwhelming, and it is a key point in personal recovery for service users. Poorly planned discharge can lead to increased risks - 13% of service users are readmitted shortly after discharge and 32% of suicides occur in the first 2-weeks after discharge.

However, healthcare systems are complicated and there are many reasons which contribute to negative experiences of discharge. Therefore, we believe understanding these complicated factors is fundamental for us to improve the outcomes and experiences of those being discharged from mental health hospitals.

What the interview aims to explore: The aim of the MINDS study is to understand and improve the outcomes and experiences of people being discharged from mental health wards. Therefore, the interview aims to explore your experiences of being discharged from a mental health ward or caring for someone who has recently been discharged or involvement in the discharge process through your working role. We are really keen to hear the voices of everyone involved in the discharge process and the information collected during the interview will contribute to our understanding and improvement of the discharge process.

Who can be involved?

• Service users, carers, and staff who have experience of discharge.
• Service users aged between 18-65 years.
• Recruiting people who have been discharged in the last 12-months and are still under care of NSFT.
• Carers of someone who has been discharged in the last 12-months.
• Staff who are involved in the patient discharge process.

The interview can be remote or in person and service users or carers also get paid £10 to reimburse them for their time and staff will receive a 1.5hours CPD certificate for their time.

If you would like to participate in the study or find out any further information, please visit our website or contact us via email:

Website: MINDS study | Norfolk and Suffolk NHS (nsft.nhs.uk)

Email: minds.project@nsft.nhs.uk

Please also visit our dedicated MINDs study page MINDS study | Norfolk and Suffolk NHS (nsft.nhs.uk)

Age: 16-25 

Location: online 

ANSWERS is an observational cohort study, aiming to collect in-depth health and social data across multiple timepoints with 250 representative young people with mental health needs across Norfolk and Suffolk.

The information collected will provide us with data about what is important to young people, what helps and impacts their mental wellbeing from social, educational and neighbourhood perspectives, and how this relates to health service use and need.

The information we find will be anonymously and continually shared with all healthcare organisations involved in supporting the mental health needs of young people, including NHS Trusts, social care, public health and voluntary organisations to help them support young people.  

The study will be open to recruitment in January 2022, but in the meantime you can express interest in taking part in the study by signing up to the REACH research database to be contacted when the study opens: REACH

By signing up to REACH you will be given a choice of two ways to become involved:

1. Become part of the ANSWERS Young person’s advisory group and help steer and manage the project to make sure that we are asking the right questions

or

2. Become a participant by completing online questionnaires at regular intervals about all aspects of your life and how they impact your mental wellbeing.

Age: 16 +

Duration: 5 - 10 minutes online survey

Location: Norfolk and Suffolk 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been reports that many people need additional support to regularly access and afford food.

We want to find out how many people who have mental health needs in Norfolk and Suffolk are unable to regularly access or afford food or are worried about it. This will help inform a more coordinated approach to identifying food access needs and signposting to helpful organisations.

This survey is entirely voluntary and is open to everyone over the age of 16 who may have mental health needs and/or may worry about accessing or affording food.

We do not ask any personal information in the survey, but there are some general questions about background so we can find out which groups of people are more likely to need food support.

Once we have enough responses, the survey results will be published on the Trust website – we are hoping that this will be in Summer 2021. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact researchinfo@nsft.nhs.uk

The survey can be accessed here.

Age 16 +

Duration: Up to one hour

Location: One off online questionnaire and optional test

GLAD stands for the genetic links to anxiety and depression. The study is a project set up to support research exploring risk factors for depression and/or anxiety.

The GLAD study aims to better understand depression and anxiety to find more effective treatments. It hopes to improve the lives of people experiencing these disorders.

GLAD is a national study with its own specialist website. Please remember if you found out about the study from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust then be sure to put that when asked to ‘select the NHS trust, GP, talking therapy service or other healthcare provider’.

Register your interest on the GLAD website

Age: 18-70

Duration: 15 mins

Visits: One off visit and blood sample.

Location: Norfolk and Suffolk

This national study is targeting patients suffering from psychosis. It is looking to see if there is a link between having special membrane antibodies and their illness.

Who can be involved?

• those experiencing a current episode of psychosis lasting less than 2 years. This can be a first episode or relapse
• aged between 18-70 years
• willing to provide a blood sample

If you are interested in learning more email: researchinfo@nsft.nhs.uk (Norfolk and Suffolk only)

For further information visit the national website  and choose Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

Register your interest