The networks cover a diverse range of topics, such as exploring the impact of loneliness and social isolation on mental health, improving the life expectancy of people with severe mental ill health and promoting young people's mental health in a digital world. They will bring together experts from different fields from the arts, humanities and sciences to build capacity and lay the foundations for new, multidisciplinary approaches to mental health research.
A major mental health research programme, led by the MRC, has been announced today, to explore what makes teenagers more or less likely to develop mental health problems and how we might intervene early.
Pooky Knightsmith on a brand new McPin Foundation report, which presents research priorities for children and young people’s mental health #YoungPeopleMHQ
Book review. Writing to Improve Healthcare, edited and authored by David P. Stevens, is a timely and important book that is designed to help quality improvers publish their quality improvement (QI) work. (Dr Stevens was the previous Editor-in-Chief of this journal, when it was called Quality & Safety in Healthcare.) The book is unique in that it applies a healthcare improvement perspective to the traditional manuscript preparation and publication process. This is useful for the novice writer and for authors accustomed to writing more traditional clinical research studies or writing for other biomedical fields. Indeed, while some prospective authors of QI work may not be first-time writers, this may be the …...To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details. To read a copy of the book in this review, please contact the library
A small proportion of every nation's young people become sufficiently antisocial to come into contact with the criminal justice system. Many also have disorders of mental health or emotional well‐being. Although countries vary in designating age of criminal responsibility, all must provide services for offenders, perhaps as young as 10, both to help them and safeguard their peers and the wider public.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Open access. Research findings should be disseminated appropriately to generate maximum impact. The development of research derived ‘actionable’ tools (RDAT) as research outputs may contribute to impact in health services and health systems research. However there is little agreement on what is meant by actionable tool or what can make them useful. We set out to develop a consensus definition of what is meant by a RDAT and to identify characteristics of a RDAT that would support its use across the research-practice boundary. A modified Delphi method was used with a panel of 33 experts comprising of researchers, research funders, policy makers and practitioners. Three rounds were administered including an initial workshop, followed by two online surveys comprising of Likert scales supplemented with open-ended questions. Consensus was defined at 75% agreement. Consensus was reached for the definition and characteristics of RDATs, and on considerations that might maximize their use. The panel also agreed how RDATs could become integral to primary research methods, conduct and reporting. A typology of RDATs did not reach consensus. A group of experts agreed a definition and characteristics of RDATs that are complementary to peer reviewed publications. The importance of end users shaping such tools was seen as of paramount importance. The findings have implications for research funders to resource such outputs in funding calls. The research community might consider developing and applying skills to coproduce RDATs with end users as part of the research process. Further research is needed on tracking the impact of RDATs, and defining a typology with a range of end-users.
Free access. Doctoral level research can contribute to the evidence base, particularly in under‐researched areas and numerically small fields such as children and young people's palliative care. It is acknowledged that much of what we currently do in children's and young people's palliative care is eminence‐based, rather than evidence‐based (Together for Short Lives, 2018). Whilst sharing experience and wisdom was valuable, particularly when the specialty was in its infancy, it is important now to develop an evidence base to ensure that children, young people and their families receive the highest standard of care.
Funnel plots are an increasingly common graphical tool which are widely used in the literature. They were first introduced by Light and Pillemer in 1984. In scientific literature, funnel plots are used to identify the probability of bias in meta-analyses and compare institutional performance. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
A new report from THIS Institute highlights the valuable role of NHS staff in research and explores how the full potential of their involvement could be better realised.
The frontotemporal dementia (FTD) spectrum is a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative syndromes with overlapping clinical, molecular and pathological features, all of which challenge the design of clinical trials in these conditions. To date, no pharmacological interventions have been proven effective in significantly modifying the course of these disorders. This study critically reviews the construct and methodology of previously published randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in FTD spectrum disorders in order to identify limitations and potential reasons for negative results.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The clinical research nurse (CRN) plays a tripartite role in the research society, serving both as an expert nurse, a member of the scientific group that conducts the study and as a supporter of the research participants that guarantees that the informed consent process extends through the study (Hastings et al., 2012). Asking people to take the weight of research and risk exposure for the benefit of others creates a fundamental ethical tension and ethical obligations in clinical research.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Free access. The significance of patient perspectives: empathy and better healthcare
Medical literature abounds with the names of doctors who have made significant contributions in their field of study. Their quest for better healthcare has generated enormous amounts of bar graphs, pie charts and scatter plots made of invisible faces and anonymous lives. Any hint of identity carefully erased. But we, the anonymous, have valuable contributions to make as well, with knowledge of our own—personal experience and a different perspective of healthcare. Knowledge and identities not found in textbooks and, until now, not featured in this journal.
Research letter. Multiple statistical testing (or multiple comparisons) occurs quite often in psychiatric research since it remains common for a given sample to have multiple exposures and outcomes assessed concurrently 1. One reason for this is that clinical presentations in psychiatry are complex phenomena whose etiologies appear to comprise multiple environmental and biological factors with small‐to‐moderate magnitudes 2. So, although complex etiologies could be modeled using interactions and advanced multivariable statistical models, it is common that they need crude estimates of novel variables, increasing the probability of dealing with multiple comparisons.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Early intervention in psychosis has generated hope. Cost-effectiveness studies, to determine whether benefits exceed costs, thus far conclude only that early intervention ‘might be’ worth its costs. It is a testament to the importance of the question: even in the absence of conclusive data, a synthesis should be attempted. . To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Simon Bradstreet is left feeling frustrated by this systematic review of recovery in people living with severe mental illness. Results may be flawed because of a poor literature search strategy introducing bias.