SLaM Employment Culture Change Project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Promoting a positive employment culture within South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation trust (SLaM).
IRAS ID
348442
Contact name
Sean Cross
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 28 days
Research summary
This research project (funded by the Maudsley Charity) will be a pilot study for a culture change programme at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) using a virtual reality (VR) training. The project will last 29 months from November 2024 till April 2027. We will examine the current organisational sub-cultures within SLaM relating to the employment service and Individual Placement Support (IPS) that are accessed by service users once they have been referred by clinicians. The project will investigate clinicians' attitudes and beliefs of employment service and the employment ability of service users with severe mental illness (SMI). The project will focus on specific teams: Crisis, Inpatient and Community teams across the four boroughs ( Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth & Southwark) within SLaM. Using collected information, we will design and evaluate a training intervention to assess its impact on clinicians’ attitudes towards people with SMI and their employment support through IPS within SLaM. The findings will help us address both positive and negative workplace cultures to improve the experiences of staff and service users accessing employment services.
Stigma exists within our healthcare system in relation to supporting people with severe mental illness (SMI) and/or psychosis into employment. A core function of the employment service is to help tackle unemployment across the UK and in this case for SLaM, across 4 boroughs in South London. Employment is a key factor contributing towards the reduction of SMI in people as it has significant positive effects on mental health; being in employment aids in their recovery and wellbeing. Research suggests that unemployment can worsen mental health, and gaining employment can be a contributing factor towards improving mental health, even for individuals experiencing SMI (Drake & Wallach, 2020).
We will carry out surveys, interviews, and focus groups with SLaM staff, SLaM borough directors, deputy directors, general managers, clinical service leads, clinical teams, individual placement support leads, care coordinators, psychiatrists, VR training participants and champions, and service users who have used IPS. To be eligible to partake in the study, participants will have to be from one of these participants’ groups.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/WM/0198
Date of REC Opinion
5 Nov 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion