The Experience of ‘Expert Patients’ in Psychiatry Teaching
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Experience Of The ‘Expert Patients’ In The Delivery Of Psychiatry Teaching To Undergraduate Medical Students: A Qualitative Analysis.
IRAS ID
246865
Contact name
Subodh Dave
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Derbyshire Health Care Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 29 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The research will examine the experiences of a group of ‘Expert Patients’ who participate in the teaching of psychiatry to undergraduate medical students. Using individual semi-structured interviews, we aim to access the thoughts and feelings these individuals have towards their experience of being an ‘Expert Patient.’ The research will address issues surrounding the impact of participation in the programme on mental well-being, confidence and social participation. We will develop a rich and textured understanding of the expert patient experience and examine and evaluate what it means to be an ‘expert’ in this context and we hope to formulate a definition of the ‘expert patient’ using the experience and voices of the participants.
The interviews will be recorded and transcribed. A thematic analysis will be completed. This will involve using a thematic analysis, to identify commonly occurring themes.
Participants will be invited to participate in the programme via letter and will be provided with information regarding the research and a consent form. Contact details will be gained from the data base maintained by the psychiatry teaching unit. The database contains the details of forty expert patients and all will be invited to participate.
It is anticipated that the research will enable a richer understanding of the experience of participating in the undergraduate teaching programme. This will involve an exploration of the concept of recovery and the impact of the programme on an individual’s perception of recovery and the way in which it interactions with personal well being and social participation. It is anticipated that the concept of ‘expertise will be explored’ against the backdrop of the teaching programme and what it means to be an expert patient in that context. It is anticipated that a definition of expert patient will be formulated based on the narratives and experiences gained from the participants.Summary of Results
Patient involvement in psychiatry education is a requirement of government policy and has many benefits for students such as; increasing learner satisfaction, improving communication skills, increasing empathy, and improving understanding of the patient perspective and patient-centred care. Yet little research has focused on the impact of involvement in psychiatry education on the expert patients. This study aimed to explore the impact of involvement in psychiatry education on mental health patients.
Twenty expert patients involved in psychiatry teaching were interviewed about the social and psychological impact of involvement in teaching. An analysis method called thematic analysis was used to develop common themes from what they said. Five themes were identified. ‘Shaping the doctors of the future – something worthwhile’ expressed the sense of purpose and of doing something worthwhile which participants felt when contributing to the teaching of future doctors. ‘Challenging assumptions about mental health’ referred to the way in which expert patients believed the Expert Patient Programme offered the students experiences of mental health patients which go beyond those they would experience in a textbook or in a clinic. ‘Recovery and transformation’ discussed the way in which the Expert Patient Programme allowed patients the opportunity to develop a recovery narrative and to use their difficult experiences to improve the lives of others. ‘Vulnerability and support’ referred to the way in which involvement in psychiatry teaching may require putting oneself in a vulnerable position but a supportive and open faculty team may mitigate this challenge. ‘Expertise and power’ discussed the expert patients’ belief that the Expert Patient Programme offered the students experience of mental health patients where their role was not defined by illness and powerlessness but a role of expertise and power and recovery. Expert patients also discussed their opinion on the term ‘expert patient’ and some participants explained their preference for the term ‘expert by experience’.
These expert patients benefitted from their experience of teaching. The Expert Patient Programme was seen as a way of helping to reduce the power difference between patients and doctors in the future. There is a need to examine the language we use to talk about patient involvement as this may have implications for this power dynamic. The context and mechanisms that lead to the benefits described by participants should be studied so that these benefits may be generalised to other contexts.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EM/0191
Date of REC Opinion
20 Sep 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion