South Asian Women's Experiences of Accessing Psychological Therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Beyond The Barriers: South Asian Women's Experiences of Accessing and Receiving Psychological Therapy
IRAS ID
251189
Contact name
Saimah Yasmin-Qureshi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 2 days
Research summary
Due to the underrepresentation of Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in mental health services, the UK government has developed initiatives to improve the provision of services for BAME communities.
The government announced the ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) initiative in a bid to provide access to psychological therapies for those with mild-moderate depression and anxiety. IAPT aims to provide psychological therapy that is not hindered by ones ethnicity, culture or language (Department of Health, 2008). Despite initiatives to increase the uptake of psychological therapy for BAME communities (DoH, 2007), access to therapy remains poor in South Asian communities.Agoro (2014) conducted a service evaluation in a secondary care psychotherapy service in order to explore the experiences of BAME groups engaging in therapy. To my knowledge this is the only research to date which has explored how BAME users experience access to psychological therapy. This research therefore aims to add to any existing literature to further develop our understanding of how services can be further adapted and evolved to continue increasing access to services and to maintain engagement for hard to reach groups.
The aim of the project is to therefore;
1. Explore South Asian Women’s experience of accessing and receiving psychological therapy in a primary care setting, where an IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies)model is used.An exploration of what makes services accessible for South Asian Women, can further develop our understanding of how IAPT services can be further adapted and evolved to continue increasing access to services and to maintain engagement for hard to reach groups.
The study will be carried out across sites that offer therapy using an IAPT model. Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be invited to take part. Once consent has been sought, they will be asked to complete an in-depth interview lasting up to 60 minutes to explore their experiences of accessing psychological therapy. No follow up will be required and participants will not receive any monetary payments for participating. The data will be analysed using thematic analysis and the final report will be submitted to the University of Staffordshire as part of a Doctoral research programme and will be disseminated via publication.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0263
Date of REC Opinion
5 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion