Development of the Carer Recovery Questionnaire (CRQ)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development and validation of the Carer Recovery Questionnaire (CRQ).
IRAS ID
219438
Contact name
Claire Hilton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The need for support from family carers for those with serious mental illness has increased since the move to care in the community. Taking on a caring role can be very distressing and often happens in a crisis situation when a loved one becomes unwell with psychosis. Carers often experience difficulty with their mental and physical health, they often have to leave their employment and their social life can suffer due to the strain and stigma of caring for a family member with psychosis. Carers clearly need support not just for their own wellbeing but also to be able to provide good care their unwell family member.
Questionnaires are a useful tool in assessing carers wellbeing, however many of them have not been developed specifically for carers of those with mental illness. Currently there are no questionnaires that assess at carer’s personal recovery. Personal recovery has been widely investigated for service users and increasingly it is being recognised that carers are on their own parallel journey of recovery which may allow them to progress with their own lives, developing a sense of meaning and purpose despite the challenges they face. Understanding carers personal recovery would also tell us how well they are adapting to their role as a carer.
The main aim of this study is to develop and test a new questionnaire looking at personal recovery for carers. A draft questionnaire will be developed with input from carers ensuring it is valid for this population. The questionnaire will be piloted with a small sample of carers. The final phase of the study will be to carry out full statistical testing of the questionnaire. The questionnaire would then be ready to use in clinical settings and for academic research purposes.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0008
Date of REC Opinion
1 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion