‘Let’s Talk’: a feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A peer-delivered intervention to reduce the impact of psychosis stigma and discrimination: a feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial
IRAS ID
300859
Contact name
Melissa Pyle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 14 days
Research summary
People who experience psychosis face stigma and discrimination. For some, the negative public beliefs about psychosis can affect how a person considers their identity. This is referred to as internalised stigma and it can result in loss of hope and optimism, depression and disempowerment, and act as a barrier to recovery. We know little about how best to support people with issues of internalised stigma. There have been very few effective approaches to support people with psychosis with internalised stigma. One intervention that has been shown to be helpful is the Honest Open Proud (HOP) programme. HOP is a manual-based intervention delivered by peers (people with lived experience of mental health problems), which aims to reduce internalised stigma. HOP has been shown to be helpful in the United States and Germany but has yet to be evaluated in the UK. Through speaking to people with experience of psychosis and people who are peer support workers we have adapted the HOP intervention for use in the UK with service users who are experiencing psychosis. Adaptation has included modifying HOP from a group-based intervention to a peer-delivered intervention that can be done one-to-one. The new name for HOP is Let’s Talk. For this study we will carry out a small randomised controlled trial (RCT). This will be to plan for a definitive trial of HOP. In our RCT we will be interested in finding out if Let’s Talk intervention is helpful, if we could recruit the required numbers of participants, if participants will remain involved in the RCT and if they will complete the treatment they are allocated to. Participants will be allocated to Let’s Talk plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone; this will be randomly determined so that the treatments can be compared in similar groups of people. Let’s Talk will be delivered by peer support workers. People who receive Let’s Talk will be interviewed about their experiences of it. If this small trial shows that the research is feasible, then it will support a funding application for a larger, definitive RCT.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0232
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jul 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion