Common mental disorders including psychotic experiences in IAPT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The identification and treatment of people with ‘common mental disorders including psychotic experiences’ attending step-3 IAPT services: a multi-perspective qualitative study.
IRAS ID
243594
Contact name
Alexandros Georgiadis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 16 days
Research summary
Some people experience psychotic experiences along with what is known as more common mental disorders (e.g. anxiety, depression). Even though psychosis, depression and anxiety share a number of potential causes, psychosis is treated in specialist settings, whereas common mental disorders are treated in primary care mental health settings, including step-3 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. Yet at least 15% of people attending step-3 IAPT services experience psychotic experiences in addition to the common mental disorders that are the target of these services. Because IAPT is not set up to treat psychotic experiences and people may not reach the threshold for referral to specialist services, people with common mental disorders including psychotic experiences may not receive optimal treatment, leading to further deterioration and poorer clinical and functional outcomes.
Informed by principles of coproduction, the proposed study will examine IAPT service users', therapists', and managers' views on how step-3 IAPT services should be improved, and how these improvements should be prioritised to address the care needs of people with common mental disorders including psychotic experiences. We will conduct thirty semi-structured interviews with service users, fifteen with IAPT therapists, and three with IAPT managers from three services (Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Norfolk & Suffolk, and Sussex). Data analysis will be based on the constant comparative method. The proposed study will lay the foundations for the development of a new talking treatment that aims to improve the prospects of recovery for people with common mental disorders including psychotic experiences attending IAPT services.REC name
London - Harrow Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/0642
Date of REC Opinion
24 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion