Implementation of an online relatives toolkit (IMPART study)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Implementation of a relatives' toolkit (IMPART Study): Examining the critical success factors, barriers, and facilitators to the implementation of an online supported self-management intervention in the NHS
IRAS ID
194741
Contact name
Fiona Lobban
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Duration of Study in the UK
years, 30 months, days
Research summary
Relatives of people with psychosis and bipolar disorder provide a huge amount of care. This caring role is associated with high levels of distress in relatives and significant practical, financial and emotional burden, with relatives reporting high levels of stigma, worry, shame and guilt, trauma, and loss.
NICE Guidelines include a recommendation to provide information and support to all relatives. The Relatives Education and Coping Toolkit (REACT) was developed to offer an easy to use online supported intervention for relatives. The intervention was developed with extensive involvement from clinicians and relatives, provides relatives with information and support, and has been shown to reduce relatives’ distress.
The next challenge is to understand how this kind of intervention can be successfully implemented into routine clinical practice. This is important because despite investment in the development and evaluation of new health technologies (such as REACT) there is a huge gap between these technologies, and what people receive in the NHS. This is called the “implementation gap”. It has been recognised that more research is needed to understand how new effective technologies can be successfully implemented in real world clinical settings to ensure patients and relatives benefit from these technologies.
The IMPART study will investigate how the REACT toolkit is implemented into Early Intervention Services as part of routine clinical practice in NHS Trusts. We will carry out detailed analysis of what happens in each NHS Trust during the process of adopting the REACT intervention. We aim to understand what factors support successful implementation of REACT so that we can support better implementation of REACT across the UK. The findings will have broader implications for understanding how other similar interventions can be successfully implemented.
For further information refer to the protocol (Appendix 1)REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0022
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jan 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion