PERCEIVE project launches research website
16 September 2009
PERCEIVE, the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) research programme which looks at the therapeutic environment on inpatient psychiatric wards, has launched a new website to keep people up to date with developments on the study, maintain motivation among the 2000 staff and service user volunteer participants from across South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) on this 5-year programme and inform them about new therapies coming to their wards.
Professor Til Wykes has led the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Programmes Grant team on the PERCEIVE programme to create a research portal for those working and using services across south London. PERCEIVE, which stands for Patient Involvement in Improving the Evidence Base on Inpatient Care, has a core of more than 20 staff working on the project from the IoP with many more having an advisory or support role.
The website describes the meticulous 12-month process that has helped develop the pioneering service user and nurse led measures (VOICE, VOTE, and VOCALISE) of perceptions of inpatient care and what nurses see as barriers to change and improvement on their wards. This aspect of the study was the first to go ahead and preliminary findings are already on the website. A measure of inpatient costs, CITRINE, was also developed. All of these measures are being used in BETTER PATHWAYS and DOORWAYS. BETTER PATHWAYS explores the differences between triage and non-triage systems in Lambeth and Lewisham. Through the website one can also learn about cutting-edge evidence-based psychotherapies that are trialled through DOORWAYS, such as hearing voices group, social cognition and interaction training, and cognitive remediation therapy amongst others.
Til Wykes, Chief Investigator said 'it is exciting to be leading a project using psychological therapies which have an ever growing evidence base and are requested by service users themselves. I am delighted we now have a website to share our progress with staff and service users.'
The website also encourages individuals with burning research questions to answer them from the extensive PERCEIVE dataset. PERCEIVE is collecting a very large data that should be used to its full potential. Anyone with ideas for analyses and research questions should contact Til Wykes (til.wykes@iop.kcl.ac.uk).
The PERCEIVE website has been made with the help of the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) – South London & South East Hub.
Paul McCrone, Reader in Health Economics on CITRINE concludes 'The PERCEIVE project will, for the first time, enable us to investigate the activities that patients are engaged in whilst on the wards. This will be invaluable for examining the costs of care.'