Impact of clinical psychologist in GP practice v.1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How does incorporating a Clinical Psychologist within a General Practice team impact on staff and patients?
IRAS ID
255455
Contact name
Stephanie Louise Raybould
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 16 days
Research summary
General Practice is currently facing increased pressures (BMA, 2015) and General Practitioners (GPs) have described particular difficulties associated with providing care for mental health concerns. Enhanced support for GPs has been recommended, for example, through greater collaboration with specialist clinicians (BMA, 2015). This research focuses on one example of such work; an innovative service initiative in The Midlands, whereby a Clinical Psychologist has been employed to work directly in general practices.
This research aims to use qualitative methods to develop a theory of how incorporating a Clinical Psychologist within the general practice team impacts on staff and patients. This broad aim follows the grounded theory method of study in which subsequent, more specific, inquiry is driven by data collected from initial sampling, and thus not hypothesised at the outset.
The study will involve interviewing individuals with varied roles within the practices, including patients that have used the Clinical Psychology service, clinical staff, non-clinical staff and the Clinical Psychologist. The semi-structured interviews will take place on an individual basis and focus on the person’s experience of the Clinical Psychology service. The interviews will be audio-recorded, last approximately 30 minutes and take place in the relevant practice.
Following interviews with the initial sample, initial coding and analysis will be carried out. The findings identified at this stage will determine whether further data is required in order to refine the emerging theory, and if so, the nature of the data required. Further data collection has the potential to take a number of forms, for example, carrying out further interviews with target populations/ specific individuals or reviewing other paper sources of information such as local print media or audit/ evaluation materials.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0008
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion