Groundbreaking study to transform service users' involvement in mental health care

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15 Apr 2013 12:15:02.773
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A groundbreaking study could help to revolutionise the way in which mental health service users and their carers plan their care.

The research is a collaboration between The University of Nottingham’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, the University of Manchester, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.

Funded with almost £2m by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR), the research will examine ways to improve the involvement of service users and their carers living in England and Wales in decisions about their care.
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The programme will run for the next five years and will benefit not just service users and their carers but also mental health professionals.

Professor Patrick Callaghan, from the University’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, who leads the Nottingham arm of the study, said that the work will improve people’s engagement with mental health services.

“Our previous research shows that people using mental health services want to be more involved in planning their care,” he said. “Working collaboratively with mental health service users and carers, we will develop a training package for mental health professionals and test whether this package helps improve care planning.”

The researchers will also produce a tool that measures service user and carer involvement in care planning.

Professor Callaghan added: “We need to know what changes are needed to mental health services in order to improve people’s involvement in care planning, so we will be asking key people involved to find out what helps and hinders service users’ involvement.”

The researchers will share the results of the project with service users, carers, health professionals and policy makers.


Professor Mike Cooke CBE, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We believe this programme will lead to improvements in the quality and purpose of care planning and will be of significant benefit to service users, carers and staff in our services and the wider health community’.

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Notes to editors: The University of Nottinghamhas 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It was ‘one of the first to embrace a truly international approach to higher education’, according to the Sunday Times University Guide 2013. It is also one of the most popular universities among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong and the QS World Rankings.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its research into global food security.

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fundraising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…

Story credits

More information is available from Andrew Grundy, EQUIP research associate, on +44 (0)115 823 0483, andrew.grundy@nottingham.ac.uk

Emma Thorne Emma Thorne - Media Relations Manager

Email: emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)115 951 5793 Location: University Park

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