EPOCH Development Usability

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The Evaluating Positive Changes in Psychosis (EPOCH) Study: Development of the digital intervention and usability testing

• IRAS ID

  333202

• Contact name

  Fiona Ng

• Contact email

  fiona.ng@nottingham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Nottingham

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 11 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Psychosis is a severe mental health problem affecting 490,000 individuals living in the UK. People with experience of psychosis are more likely to report trauma and the negative psychological impact of the psychosis experience. Much focus of the literature is on the negative effects of psychosis and the development of interventions to address deficits. Yet it is important to note that some people report positive changes arising from traumatic and adverse experiences. This is commonly known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). PTG is defined as the positive psychological changes an individual may experience following an emotional struggle with adversity.

  PTG-oriented interventions have been developed and evaluated for other populations. No interventions to support PTG have been assessed within the context of psychosis. Meta-analyses demonstrate that existing interventions can have a small to medium effect on PTG. However, these interventions do not comprehensively cover theoretically important processes in supporting PTG.

  This research aims to develop the EPOCH Intervention, a new digital intervention to support PTG in people with psychosis, and to test the usability of the EPOCH Intervention. The EPOCH Intervention is an adjunctive, integrative intervention combining cognitive behavioural (to support assimilation) and narrative (to support accommodation) therapies delivered via an online platform. Two existing interventions will be adapted; Cognitive Behavioural Stress Management (CBSM) and Narrative Enhancement Cognitive Therapy (NECT).

  The development and usability testing of the EPOCH Intervention will be conducted across three research activities.
  1. Focus groups with people with psychosis and mental health clinicians to develop the EPOCH Intervention manual
  2. Workshop for mental health peer support workers to develop training for online moderation of online discussion forums
  3. Usability testing of the EPOCH Intervention
  

• REC name

  North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/NW/0336

• Date of REC Opinion

  9 Dec 2024

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion