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Mental Health

Past projects

Completed research projects undertaken by members of the Centre for Mental Health Research.

2022

Supporting first-time mental health service users

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £3,100

Duration: March 2022 to July 2022

2021

Improving the physical health of individuals affected by severe mental illness through co-produced health resources (HEIF 21/22)

City St George’s Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £10,700

Duration: December 2021 to July 2022

Find out more: What works for our health? - Bromley by Bow Health Partnership


Engaging with Schools to Improve the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Students and Staff (HEIF 21/22)

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £9,554.81

Duration: December 2021 to July 2022

Find out more:  Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges - GOV.UK


New Learnings on Using Video Feedback in Perinatal Mental Health: A Knowledge Exchange Workshop and NHS Practitioner Accreditation Programme (HEIF 21/22)

City St George’s Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £3,994.82

Duration: December 2021 to July 2022


ENRICH into practice: informing the successful introduction of peer workers into mental health services (ENRICHMENT)

City St George's Lead: Professor Steve Gillard (CI)

Project Team Members: Alan Simpson (Kings College London), Alison Faulkner (National Survivor User Network), Paul Binfield (East London NHS Foundation Trust), Rachel Eborall (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust), Rahul Bhattacharya (NHS England), Sarah White (St George’s University of London).

Funder: NIHR Programme Development Grant, £150,000

Duration: June 2021 to December 2022


A rapid realist review of telemental health

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: UCL Partners, £4,443.09

Duration: May 2021 to October 2021


Second Training on improving communication with people with psychosis

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: UNC The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, £1,152

Duration: May 2021 to May 2021


Optimising video feedback for perinatal mental health (BOOST-2)

City St George's Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot (CI)

Team: Eloise Stevens (City St George's), Jane Iles (University of Surrey), Jennie Parker (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Maddalena Miele (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Sushma Sundaresh (Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust), Rajinder Kaur Ballman (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Tara Lawn (East London NHS Foundation Trust)

Funder: The Barts Charity and Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust, £52, 635

Duration: April 2021 to March 2022


A mixed-methods study to assess self-management and develop a Position Statement on patient education and support services for patients with adrenal insufficiency

City St George's Lead: Dr Sofia Llahana (CI)

Alfred Potter Research Award by Addison’s Disease Self-help Group, £10,000.

Duration: March 2021 to February 2022

Team: Christine Yeadinak, Oregon, USA; Kathleen Mulligan, Mark Haddad, City, University of London; Stephanie Baldeweg, UCH.


Community Development for Health Masterclass Programme

City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden

Funder: GLA Greater London Authority, £8,000

Duration: March 2021 to June 2021


HEIF – Community, culure and peer support in mental health services: a participatory knowledge exchange project

City St George’s Lead: Steven Gillard

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £7,189.93

Duration: January 2021 to July 2021

2020

Training on improving communication with people with psychosis

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: UNC The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, £1,152

Duration: December 2020 to November 2021


Co-designing culturally engaging alcohol intervention to reduce harm in Nepal

City St George's Lead: Professor Jacqueline Sin

Team: Ranjita Dhital (University of Reading, co-CI), Adhijit Nadkarni (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), Anup Adhikari (Programme for Improving Mental Health (PRIME) Nepal Collaborators), Edwin van Teijlingen (Bournemouth University), Glenn Robert (King’s College London), Nagendra Luitel (Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) Nepal),

Funder: City St George's Global Challenges Research Fund, £15,473.81

Duration: December 2020 to July 2021

Alcohol causes approximately 3.3 million deaths annually, representing 5.9% of all deaths worldwide. In low-income countries like Nepal, morbidity and mortality risks are greater per litre of pure alcohol consumed than in higher-income countries.

This cross-disciplinary study will explore and expand on the multi-country Programme for Improving Mental Health Care conducted at one of the sites, Chitwan District, Nepal. This is an area with significant mental health and alcohol problems, where non-significant findings were reported when a psychological alcohol intervention was delivered in primary care settings by trained community-based counsellors.

This study will be the first to use Experience-based Co-design (EBCD) and Photovoice to explore how community assets (including the arts, culture, heritage sites, green spaces, community associations and volunteer groups) can be best incorporated in co-designing an alcohol intervention for future evaluation in a low-resource country. The co-designed intervention will be developed to a stage ready for piloting and evaluation. We hope this will lead to the development of a culturally engaging alcohol intervention to provide sustainable and long-term health and social benefits.


HEIF – Development of resources for refugees to improve access to primary healthcare services and communicate their health needs

City St George’s Lead: Susannah Hermaszewska

Funder: City University of London, £1,300

Duration: December 2020 to July 2021


HEIF – Using Video Feedback in Perinatal Mental Health: A Knowledge Exchange Workshop

City St George’s Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot

Funder: City St George’s, University of London

Duration: December 2020 to July 2021


Co-production project to improve access to primary healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers experiencing mental distress

City St George's Lead: Susannah Hermaszewska (CI)

Team: Jacqueline Sin (City St George's), Angela Sweeney (King’s College London), Angelina Jalonen (Refugee Council)

Funder: School of Health and Medical Sciences, Research Sustainability Fund & Higher Education Innovation Fund, £3,340

Duration: December 2020 to June 2021

All asylum seekers and refugees in the UK are entitled to free primary and secondary healthcare with the NHS. Whilst levels of mental and physical health needs in this population are high, utilisation of primary healthcare services remains low.

Recent research has shown that refugees seeking help from primary healthcare services are hampered by discriminatory policies of these services, such as refusal to register patients without proof of legal status or address, but also their lack of knowledge about the UK healthcare system, language and cultural barriers, fear of disclosing sensitive information, and stigma associated with mental health.

The aim of this coproduction project is to develop and disseminate informative resources to support help-seeking and aid communication about health needs between asylum seekers and refugees and primary healthcare practitioners. This project is being undertaken in partnership with the Refugee Council, a nation-wide organisation, which provides therapeutic services, advocacy, and support to asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. The resources will be co-produced with members of the refugee community, therapists at the Refugee Council and General Practitioners serving the refugee community.

Find out more and download the resources here: Refugee Council therapeutic wellbeing resources


Self-harm and effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for males compared to females

City St George's Lead: Oliver Matias (PhD student)

Team: Kirsten Barnicot and Rose McCabe (Supervisors)

Funder: National Institute for Health Research

Duration: October 2020 to September 2023

Find out more: Self-harm and suicide in males compared to females


Enhanced Discharge From Inpatient To Community Mental Health Care (ENRICH): A Programme Of Applied Research To Develop, Pilot And Evaluate A Peer Support Intervention To Enhance Discharge

City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £15,955.20


Evaluating Mental Health Decision Units in acute care pathways (DECISION): A quasi-experimental and health economic evaluation

City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £80,051.84


Connect Hackney

City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden

Funder: Connect Hackney, Hackney Council for Voluntary Service (Connect Hackney), £49,043.85

Duration: July 2020 to March 2022


Enhancing antenatal care uptake in an ethnically diverse socially disadvantaged maternal cohort: a retrospective study to develop an intervention

City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden

Funder: WELLBEING OF WOMEN, £9,815

Duration: July 2020 to March 2023


Communities Driving Change

City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden

Funder: Tower Hamlets Council, £11,443.74

Duration: July 2020 to January 2022


EFFIP (E-support for Families and Friends of Individuals affected by Psychosis): A randomised controlled trial of a co-produced online intervention for carer

City St George’s Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £39,109.70

Duration: June 2020 to December 2020


Agency, Social Identity & Justice in Mental Health: A Collaboration with Young People, Clinicians & Academics across Philosophy, Ethics & Neuroscience

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (CI)

Team: Lisa Bortolotti (University of Birmingham), Matthew Broome (University of Birmingham), Michael Larkin (Aston University); Rachel Temple (McPin Foundation)

Funder: MRC/ESRC/AHRC, £94,267.71

Duration: April 2020 to March 2021

The project has established a new collaboration involving young people, their families, clinicians and academics across philosophy, ethics, psychology and neuroscience to investigate agency, identity and justice in youth mental health. We will analyse verbal and non-verbal communication in mental healthcare encounters involving young people to examine how agency is fostered or thwarted, and test novel interview methods with young people.


Meta-ethnography and migrant distress: where are transgender forced migrants in global mental health research?

City St George's Lead: Susannah Hermaszewska

Team: Jacqueline Sin (City St George's), Angela Sweeney (King’s College London), B Camminga (Wits University, Johannesburg) Riley Botelle (King's College London).

Funder: National Institute for Health Research, £69,641

Duration: March 2020 to June 2021

We are conducting a systematic review and meta-ethnography of inter-disciplinary literature on the lived experiences of transgender forced migrants. The aim of this review is to deepen the understanding of what factors impact the mental health of transgender forced migrants, and to understand the mental health and healthcare needs unique to their transgender identity, and their forced migrant status.

This review aims to explore and outline the barriers and facilitators transgender individuals face accessing healthcare during migration and in their host countries. During this project, we are also looking closely at the ethical and methodological implications of using a meta-ethnographic approach to carry out research with exceptionally marginalised communities.


HEIF – RELATE Study London Dissemination Workshop

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £4,085

Duration: March 2020 to July 2020


A feasibility trial video feedback for parents with personality disorder

City St George’s Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £12,619

Duration: February 2020 to January 2021


What difference does it make? An intersectional framework to measure mental health harms in women and men associated with different thresholds of violence and abuse: a systematic review and meta-analysis

City St George's Leads: Professors Steve Gillard and Jacqueline Sin (Co-Is)

Team: Nadia Mantovani (Georges University of London, CI), Angela Sweeney (King’s College London), Sarah White (St George’s, University of London), Lucy Allwright (Against Violence and Abuse), Emma Brett (Anglia Ruskin University)

Funder and award: The Violence Abuse & Mental Health Network UK Research and Innovation, £25,000

Duration: January 2020 to February 2021

This systematic review and meta-analysis will combine the results of quantitative studies to provide an analysis of measures of effect of the mental health harms associated with different kinds and thresholds of violence and abuse (VA), which will include types, frequency, severity and duration of VA. These associations will be further analysed between women and men to assess the gendered nature of violence, and in relation to other social inequalities analysis as specified above.


A New Global Teaching and Research Partnership on Patient Inolvement in Health Decisions

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (PI)

Team: Hunan University, China; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Osaka, Japan; Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil;

Funder: City St George's, University of London Global Seed Fund

Duration: January 2020 to November 2020

2019

Investigating the feasibility of using body worn cameras to identify effective de-escalation practice in mental health settings

City St George’s Lead: Dr Mary Lavelle

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £9,851.14

Duration: November 2019 to December 2021


Evaluation support for GPN programme

City St George’s Lead: Dr Mary Lavelle

Funder: Health Education England, £5,000

Duration: November 2019 to November 2021


Music-assisted programmes: Developing communication in autism spectrum disorder through music-making

City St George's Lead: Professor Jacqueline Sin (co-I)

Team: Dr Fang Liu (CI), Dr Tim Williams, Dr Tom Loucas (University of Reading)

Funder: European Research Council Proof of Concept Grant, €150,000

Duration: September 2019 to September 2021

Find out more: MAP study.


Improving outcomes in patients who self-harm – Adapting and evaluating a brief psychological intervention in Emergency Departments (ASsuRED)

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (CI)

Team: Sally O'Keeffe (City St George's), Jenna Hunter  (City St George's), Mimi Suzuki (East London NHS Foundation Trust), Alan Simpson (Kings College London), Borislava Mihaylova (Queen Mary University of London), Chris Dickens (University of Exeter), Domenico Giacco (University of Warwick), Helen Smith (Devon Partnership NHS Trust), Mary Ryan (PPI representative), Navneet Kapur (University of Manchester), Peter Aitken (Devon Partnership NHS Trust), Peter Riou (Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust), Richard Byng (Plymouth University), Sandra Eldridge (Queen Mary University of London), Stefan Priebe (Queen Mary University of London), Will Lee (University of Exeter), Vera Araujo Soares (Newcastle University),

Funder: National Institute for Health Research Programme Grant for Applied Research, £2.7 million

Duration: May 2019 to April 2024

Find out more: The ASsuRED Project | City St George's, University of London


Accessibility and acceptability of perinatal mental health services from Ethnic Minority groups (PAAM)

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (co-I)

Team: S Priebe (Queen Mary University of London, CI), Alex Copello, Charles Musters (East London NHS Foundation Trust), Giles Berrisford, Jelena Jankovic, Justine Cawley (East London NHS Foundation Trust), Nikolina Jovanovic, Olivia Protti (East London NHS Foundation Trust), Qulsom Fazil, Syeda Tahir

Funder: NIHR Health Services & Delivery Research, £444,534.

Duration: May 2019 to June 2021


Recovery in Mind – Reaching Communities

City St George's Lead: Professor Jacqueline Sin

Team: Angela Ryan, CEO of Recovery in Mind and the Recovery in Mind team

Funder:  The Big Lottery Fund, £78,000.00

Duration: April 2019 to September 2021


Organisational Resilience in Health Care

City St George’s Lead: Dr Mary Lavelle

Funder: Imperial College London, £10,000

Duration: April 2019 to June 2020


Evaluating Mental Health Decision Units in acute care pathways (DECISION): A quasi-experimental and health economic evaluation

City St George's Lead: Professor Steve Gillard (CI)

Project team: Lucy Goldsmith (City St George's), Jo Lomani (City St George's), Katie Anderson (City St George's), Chloe Crowe (North East London Foundation NHS Trust), David McDaid (LSE), Geraldine Clarke (The Health Foundation), Heather Jarman (St George’s Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), Jared Smith (St George’s University of London), Kati Turner (St George’s, University of London), Sonia Johnson (UCL).

Funder: National Institute for Health Research, Health Services & Deliver Research £418K

Duration: March 2019 to February 2021


Risk assessment and increasing safety in dementia – RAISE dementia study

City St George’s Lead: Dr Juanita Hoe

Funder: DMT The Dunhill Medical Trust, £139,624

Duration: February 2019 to August 2022

2018

Dementia - Person Aligned Care Team (D-PACT)

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £140,221

Duration: October 2018 to February 2024

Find out more: Dementia - Person Aligned Care Team (D-PACT) - NIHR Funding and Awards


Tackling chronic depression – adapting and testing a technology supported patient-centred and solution-focused intervention (DIALOG+) for people with chronic depression (TACK)

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (Co-I)

Team: Stefan Priebe (CI), Vicky Bird (CI), Raj Choudhury, Susan Collinson, John Geddes, Tim Kendall Sally Kerry, Andrew Molodynski, Anita Patel, Stephen Pilling, Jonathan Warren

Funder: National Institute for Health Research, £2,489,869

Duration: October 2018 to March 2022


Development of an Intervention to Support Mental and Physical Health Professionals to Manage Type II Diabetes Mellitus Care in People with Severe Mental Illness

City St George's Lead: Tracey Dorey (PhD)

Team: Kathleen Mulligan (City), Mark Haddad (City), Alan Simpson, Hayley McBain

Funder: East London NHS Foundation Trust, £95,320

Duration: October 2018 to October 2021


Mental health and wellbeing in pregnant and post-natal teemager: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of young women’s experiences and supports needs

City St George’s Lead: Dr Grace Lucas

Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £4,994

Duration: April 2018 to April 2019

2017

Community Mental Health Care Pathway – National Adviser

City St George’s Lead: Professor Alan Simpson

Funder: Royal College of Psychiatrists, £30,550

Duration: November 2017 to December 2018


Improving quality of life and health outcomes of patients with psychosis through a new structured intervention for expanding social networks (SCENE)

City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (Co-I)

Team: Stefan Priebe (Queen Mary University of London, CI)

Funder: National Institute for Health Research, £2,709,552

Duration: June 2017 to November 2022


Boosting baby behaviour and bonding in parents with enduring difficulties in managing emotions and relationships (BOOST)

City St George's Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot (CI)

Team: Eloise Stevens (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Jane Iles (University of Surrey), Jennie Parker (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust),  Maddalena Miele (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Mike Crawford (Imperial College London), Ola Ajala (Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust), Paul Ramchandani (University of Cambridge), Sushma Sundaresh (Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust), Tara Lawn (East London NHS Foundation Trust)

Funder: NIHR Research for Patient Benefit, £238,399.00

Duration: June 2017 to January 2021

2016

Achieving quality and effectiveness in dementia using crisis team (AQUEDUCT)

City St George’s Lead: Dr Juanita Hoe

Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £7,703

Duration: December 2016 to November 2022


Poverty, pathology and pills: moral narratives and the medicalisation of distress

City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe

Funder: ESRC Economic and Social Research Council, £3,536.41

Duration: November 2016 to April 2019

2014

Managing Agitation and Raising Quality of Life. A Project to Improve Quality of Life in People with Moderate or Severe Dementia

City St George’s Lead: Dr Juanita Hoe

Funder: ESRC Economic and Social Research Council, £6,816.80

Duration: March 2014 to February 2019