To explore the experiences of carers attending a carers support group
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What are the experiences of carers of individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) who attend a 'carers' support group following a first episode of psychosis?
IRAS ID
167947
Contact name
Nicola Moone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of West London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 2 days
Research summary
In the UK there are thought to be around 1.5 million carers for people with mental illness. The caring role has been known to cause psychological stress, including burden, guilt, shame, worry and distress (Shmukler, 1996).
Psychosocial Interventions for psychosis (PSI) are evidence based treatment options for people who suffer from psychosis. They aim to focus on wellbeing, daily functioning and life opportunities. They commonly use cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) approaches, including Family psycho-education (FPE).
FPE is designed to teach families how to support their loved one who experiences severe mental illness (Lucksted et al, 2012). The down side to FPE is the amount of time it takes to implement and the amount of resources. Therefore a more efficient way of delivering this intervention and to a wider population is to use the model as a framework to deliver a carers support group.
There is growing evidence around the importance of using multi-faceted research to evaluate PSI services (Briank and Manier, 2014). One way of doing this is through asking carers about their own experiences. Recent research has identified that there are very limited qualitative studies looking in detail at the experiences of carers undergoing FI treatment (Nilson et al, 2014). Therefore the decision was taken to carry out a qualitative study in the researchers' area of practice, as a way of exploring the experiences of carers attending these groups across the trust. The overall aim is to effectively improve services for carers.
The data will be captured by conducting semi-structured interviews with at least one carer from each support group across the trust. The types of questions asked will be “what's it like to be involved in the group?” and “what's changed for you, though attending?”. The researcher will recruit participants by actively attending the support groups and asking for volunteers. The data will then be transcribed and analysed and then written up as a dissertation.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0272
Date of REC Opinion
8 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion