Our research covers many types of interventions to support people with their mental health and other conditions. These range from psychological therapies adapted and researched for particular conditions, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, compassion-focused therapy, positive psychological interventions, among others.
Interventions are evidence-based and designed to promote and support psychological wellbeing.
Explore research activities in the Psychological and Social Interventions theme. Names shown indicate authors or co-authors involved from the Centre for Mental Health Practice, Policy and Law Research.
Psychosis is a highly distressing mental health condition which shares some similarities with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). These include negative self-esteem, impaired emotion regulation, challenges with interpersonal relationships, and intrusive trauma-related experiences. Both have been linked to childhood traumatic experiences such as abuse, neglect, and loss. The project explores the acceptability and feasibility of using an 'Umbrella trial' methodology to investigate the potential causal pathways between CPTSD and psychosis, and to interventions to improve psychotic symptoms. This trial involves three concurrent randomised controlled trials testing interventions for individual CPTSD symptoms and their impact on psychotic symptoms, potentially revolutionizing treatment for this condition.
PICASSO was led by Head of Research for SHSC Prof Thanos Karatzias with Prof Paul Hutton as a Co-Investigator.
This project used a novel trial design called an ‘umbrella trial’ to investigate factors which influence decision making ability in an effort to accelerate the development of effective interventions to support the restoration of decision making.
Clinicians have a duty to respect patients' choices about their treatment unless the patient does not have the “capacity” for such decision-making. In the last 10 years in Scotland, people with psychosis have been judged to lack ‘capacity’ on at least 22,000 occasions. When someone cannot make decisions for themselves, clinicians are obligated to support them to be part of the decision-making process, and to avoid involuntary treatment. However, there are no effective and acceptable psychological interventions available to help them do this in practice.
The project was led by Prof Paul Hutton with involvement from several Centre members – Prof Nadine Dougall, Prof Thanos Karatzias, Prof Jill Stavert, Amanda Woodrow and others.
Understanding Medicine Adherence for People with Learning Disabilities Through a Participatory Action Research and Ethnographic Study
Non-adherence to medicines significantly affects quality of life, mortality, and morbidity. People with learning disabilities (LD) often require support, but there's limited research on effective medication support for this group. This study aims to understand the barriers and facilitators to medication adherence for people with LD in real-world settings. It follows principles of knowledge translation and participatory research, involving people with LD and their carers. The study will improve medication adherence strategies tailored to their needs, aligning with their requirements, and informing supportive policies. People with disabilities have actively contributed to the study's design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of findings.
To learn more about this study, you can contact the authors: Dr Natasha Spassiani and Sam Abdulla
Older people’s chronic pain is often not well managed due of fears of side-effects and under-reporting. Telehealth interventions like smartphone applications, are becoming popular to help manage chronic diseases. However, the extent to which telehealth interventions may be used to promote and effect the self-management of chronic pain is not established. The aim of the systematic review (SR) was to provide objective review of the existing evidence pertaining to the benefits of smartphone apps for the management of chronic pain in older people. The SR concluded it is important for future research to not only examine the effects of smartphone initiatives, but also to compare their safety, acceptability, efficacy and cost–benefit ratio in relation to existing treatment modalities.
Associate Professor Margaret Dunham, who led this study, is interested in supporting older people’s health care needs and improving service-user experiences of health care services.