Research Roundup: August 2024
Welcome to a new series of monthly roundups of key research activity across the Trust, showing its impact, and opportunities for staff and patients. As the first roundup, it also features highlights from beyond August into the previous few months.
We are proud to be a leading mental health trust for research. As part of our five-year strategy (Aiming High; Changing Lives, 2021-2026), our goal is to be a catalyst for change, using research as a driving force to deliver innovative treatments and better care for everyone. What does this mean in practice?
1. We want all service users to be offered the chance to take part in research, to play a part in shaping and improving mental health in the future.
2. We want to help staff feel ownership and pride in our research culture - and to make engaging with research accessible
There are several ways to find out what research opportunities are available. These include the Take Part in Research website, speaking to your team's Research Champion; or by visiting Research and Development pages on Maud (for staff), and Trust's research webpages.
None of this could happen without the hard work of those across the Trust and our partners at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (King’s IoPPN). Thank you to everyone for your contribution to health and science; I hope you enjoy finding out about some of the fantastic work below.
Professor Fiona Gaughran, Director of Research and Development, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Updates from the Research and Development team
Strategy in Action event highlights ambition to deliver next generation of care through research innovation
In May we hosted our fifth bi-annual Strategy in Action event, which gave participants an opportunity to explore current challenges, our strategic research aims, plus the types of studies underway and services in the Trust that have been developed through research. Members of the Trust’s Service User Research Advisory Group supported the event, including Charlie, who spoke at the event about his experiences in research.
Read a summary of the Strategy in Action event
Approximately 1,500 people have joined a research study using the Take Part in Research website since its launch last year
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in sharing the Take Part in Research website, and supporting people to get involved with research at the Trust. Since it launched in June 2023, it has received 20k visitors, with over 1,500 people signing up to studies. This wouldn't be possible without the help of staff, especially Research Champions, spreading the word and encouraging service users to get involved.
Celebrating reaching over 70 Research Champions across the Trust
Research Champions are a point of contact between the R&D team and clinical teams, sharing information to support the development of our research culture and engagement framework. The network was launched in 2020 and we are proud to have over 70 staff in these roles now based in departments and wards across the Trust.
Research News
New Clinical Informatics Service developing new clinical insight tool, LUCI
The Clinical Informatics Service (CIS) is a new service set up by the Trust, with support from the Maudsley Charity. It brings together clinical, technical and research expertise from the Trust, the NIHR Maudsley BRC and King’s IoPPN, working closely with the Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS) team and CogStack.
The service aims to develop our visualisation platform Locating Useful Clinical Information (LUCI). LUCI is a clinical insights tool that presents clinicians and managers with data from the Trust's electronic patient record, to help them make more informed decisions about patient care, while also releasing time to care, identifying and addressing unmet needs and more. LUCI is based on the current ‘proof-of-concept’ platform VIEWER and will replace it in the Autumn.
Teens with problematic smartphone use are twice as likely to have anxiety – and many are eager to cut down. Commentary by lead researchers and CAMHS clinicians Dr Bruce Clark and Dr Johnny Downs
Two new studies, funded by the NIHR Maudsley BRC, of smartphone habits in teenagers have identified links between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and depression, anxiety and insomnia. The research revealed that one in eight young people want help to reduce their smartphone use.
Read a commentary with recommendations for clinicians, teenagers and parents: Problematic smartphone use: What can teenagers and parents do to reduce use? The commentary was written by:
- Lead researchers: Professor Ben Carter (Professor of Medical Statistics at King’s IoPPN) and Dr Nicola Kalk (Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s IoPPN and Consultant Psychiatrist)
- South London and Maudsley CAMHS: Dr Johnny Downs (Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist) and Dr Bruce Clark (Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director for the CAMHS Directorate and Clinical Academic Group)
Day workshops in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy effectively reduces depression in 16-18 year olds
New research has found that providing 16-18 year olds with a day-long course in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was both a clinically and cost-effective means of improving their mental health. Conducted by King’s IoPPN researchers, the trial, known as Brief Educational workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST), was successfully adapted from the Trust’s DISCOVER program, which was designed to help adults manage their feelings of stress.
AVATAR and SloMo digital therapies for psychosis recommended for use in NHS
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended two digital health technologies for psychosis developed at King's IoPPN, and supported by the NIHR Maudsley BRC and Wellcome.
SloMo can be used for managing distressing thoughts or paranoia; AVATAR therapy can be used to reduce the distress caused by voice-hearing in psychosis. They represent two of three digital technologies recommended by NICE which can now be used as an option in the NHS for adults and young people with psychosis. Both AVATAR and SloMo will now be refined further and tested across various clinical sites, including at our Trust.
New home-administered treatment for binge eating disorder shows promising results
Researchers from King’s IoPPN have investigated the feasibility of a new home-administered treatment for binge eating disorder. The new treatment combines a gentle brain stimulation technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with a training programme that targets unhelpful patterns of attention around food. Study participants were recruited from the public and the Trust’s Eating Disorders services.
Events and Opportunities
- Thursday 29 August, 1:00 – 2:00pm | South London and Maudsley Recovery College’s Research Club
- Monday 16 September, 9:30am – 4:45pm | FREED at 10 - Towards the Next Decades of Early Intervention for Eating Disorders
- Thursday 19 September, 11am – 2pm | Research Roadshow – Reception Area in Gracefield Gardens Health Centre, Streatham, London, SW16 2ST | All welcome, just drop-in
- Friday 20 September, 10am – 3pm | Red 4 Research Day - visit the R&D stall in the Maudsley Hospital’s outpatients waiting room to learn more about research opportunities in the Trust and IoPPN | All welcome, just drop-in
- Thursday 26 September, 9:30am - 4:30pm | King’s Health Partners Annual conference
- Thursday 24 October, 11am – 2pm | Research Roadshow – First Floor of Marina House, 63-65 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8RZ | All welcome, just drop-in
In the Media
BBC Radio 4 | The Life Scientific - Professor Janet Treasure
Professor Treasure is a world-leading clinical and academic psychiatrist at the IoPPN and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. She was interviewed by ‘The Life Scientific’ to talk about her career researching and treating eating disorders.
Listen now - The Life Scientific - Janet Treasure on eating disorders and the quest for answers - BBC Sounds
