IAPT debt intervention (v2)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of a Debt Advice Intervention Within IAPT Incorporating Service User Views: one-to one interviews
IRAS ID
295761
Contact name
Til Wykes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Financial worry is a major risk factor for many common mental health problems. People who have problem debt are twice as likely to develop serious depression and half as likely to recover when being treated by services for anxiety and depression, such as IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Treatment).
A report by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI), ‘Help Along the Way’, emphasises the effectiveness of receiving timely debt advice for improving mental health outcomes. In particular, it recommends a sustainable solution whereby debt advice is able to also address the effects of financial worries on mental health, and where advice is easily accessible to clients through the joining up of services and development of warm referral pathways. New research emphasises the importance of a collaborative approach between mental health professionals and debt advisors, which goes beyond the current route of just signposting patients to outside services.
Funding has been secured through Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to consider the potential for such an intervention within IAPT services and then design and test this intervention. We have already undertaken qualitative focus groups and interviews with IAPT therapists and Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) advisors to better understand the feasibility of introducing debt advice within IAPT. Initial analysis of this data illustrates the importance of integrating these services, in particular interviewees mentioned that clients struggle to engage when referred to outside services, and that the effectiveness of this advice could be greatly improved if both therapist and money advisor were to work together.
This current application is for the first stage of this research project, to conduct qualitative interviews with IAPT service users, which will help us to design a prospective intervention that could be effective and feasible for clients with both problem debt and mental health difficulties.
REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0201
Date of REC Opinion
9 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion