Improving Safety and Quality in Mental Healthcare

NCT04866693 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 279409
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 43
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Background: Patient safety incidents are a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. So far, existing safety improvement work has largely focused on physical healthcare. Only a small body of research has studied safety as it applies to mental healthcare, with these studies concentrating primarily on psychiatric inpatient units. However, mental healthcare is increasingly delivered in community settings, through primary care and secondary care mental health provision, rather than in hospitals. Less is known about the safety problems service users experience in community-based mental healthcare. It is important that safety problems in community-based mental health services are better understood, so that care can be improved. Objective: This research will aim to understand the nature of the safety problems experienced by adult users of community-based mental healthcare, from the perspective of service users, carers, and healthcare providers. The study will also aim to identify priority areas and effective practices to improve safety in these settings. Method: Individual in-depth interviews or focus groups will be held with service users, carers, and frontline healthcare providers employed within appropriate community-based mental healthcare settings. Interviews or focus groups will last for approximately one hour and will be carried out face-to-face or via secure videoconferencing technology (e.g. Microsoft Teams or Zoom), depending on up-to-date guidance relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. With participant consent, interviews and focus groups will be audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts will be analysed using thematic analysis, with themes developed, defined, and revised throughout the analysis process. Discussion: Study findings will help to fill key evidence gaps concerning safety in community-based mental healthcare. More broadly, the results may lead to the development of evidence-informed interventions to address the safety issues which are raised in participant discussions.

Conditions

Mental Illness

Keywords

Patient safety; Community mental health services

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Safety problems in community-based mental health services

  In-depth qualitative interviews or focus group discussions will be conducted to identify patient safety problems within community-based mental health services, from the perspective of each participant group (service users, carers, healthcare professionals).

  The outcome will be assessed on day 1 of participation, during a one-off interview/focus group

Study Arms (3)

Service users

Up to 20 people with current or recent experience of using community-based mental health services will be recruited to the study. Participants will take part in one in-depth interview or focus group discussion.

Other: None - this is an exploratory qualitative study to understand patient safety problems in community-based mental healthcare.

Carers

Up to 20 family members/ carers with experience of supporting another adult who is accessing community-based mental health services, will be recruited to the study. Participants will take part in one in-depth interview or focus group discussion.

Other: None - this is an exploratory qualitative study to understand patient safety problems in community-based mental healthcare.

Healthcare professionals

Up to 20 healthcare professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds and community-based mental health services will be recruited to the study. Participants will take part in one in-depth interview or focus group discussion.

Other: None - this is an exploratory qualitative study to understand patient safety problems in community-based mental healthcare.

Interventions

None - this is an exploratory qualitative study to understand patient safety problems in community-based mental healthcare. OTHER

Qualitative study

Carers; Healthcare professionals; Service users

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

People with experience of community-based mental health services, in either a service user, carer, or healthcare professional capacity.

You may qualify if:

• Over 18 years old.
• Able to speak sufficient English to provide informed consent to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Current or prior experience of using general adult community-based mental health services (within the past 12 months).

You may not qualify if:

• Unable to speak sufficient English to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Unable to give informed consent to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Currently receiving inpatient mental healthcare at a psychiatric hospital, or care from a service for older adults.
• Deemed by the researcher to be distressed or too unwell to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Their experience of services primarily falls outside of the remit of general adult mental health services, e.g. they have a primary diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder, or their care is provided by specialist tertiary care providers such as forensic mental health services.
• Carers.
• Over 18 years old.
• Able to speak sufficient English to provide informed consent to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Current or prior experience of caring for an individual accessing general adult community-based mental health services (within the past 12 months).
• Unable to speak sufficient English to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Unable to give informed consent to take part in an interview or focus group.
• Carers who have a caring responsibility for:
• A child (0-17 years),
• An individual using older adult mental health services,
• An adult using services which fall outside of the remit of general adult mental health services,

Sponsors & Collaborators

• King's College London: lead
• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London

London, Greater London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Claire Henderson, FRCPsych

  King's College London

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: OTHER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 22, 2021
• First Posted: April 30, 2021
• Study Start: May 10, 2021
• Primary Completion: February 28, 2022
• Study Completion: February 28, 2022
• Last Updated: March 2, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)