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Patient and Public Involvement, Engagement and Dissemination

Image by Hannah Busing

Cross-Cutting Workstream 6

The Hub for Metabolic Psychiatry has been built upon stories from those with lived experience who have highlighted the need for increased understanding of the link between severe mental illness (SMI), medications and metabolic health, as well as the need for acceptable metabolic interventions that have been developed and tested in collaboration with people with lived experience. 

 

Through this cross-cutting workstream, we will ensure that such the priorities of people with lived experience are at the heart of all of our research. We are committed to meaningful, impactful and measurable input from people with lived experience at every stage of the research process.

 

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“The need to address the rapid weight gain when taking antipsychotics and during the depression phase of illness.”

“The need for new treatments including adjunctive treatments alongside medication.”

“The need for increased understanding among patients of how metabolic health interfaces with SMI and which health markers are most relevant to cardiovascular risk.”

- The Lived Experience Advisory Panel on Hub Priorities

Workstream Activities

Workstream 6 is co-led by Dr Iain Campbell at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Annabel Walsh at The McPin Foundation, both with lived experience themselves. At the heart of the workstream, is the Hub Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), a diverse group of 9 people with lived experience of SMI and reduced metabolic health. This group meets online every three months to provide input into the entire programme of Hub activities, including our own within-workstream activities as follows:

Co-production of a Lived Experience Impact Score (LEIS), a scoring system to rate the quality of lived experience involvement throughout the activities of each workstream.
Training and development of both people with lived experience to support them in their roles, and researchers to conduct meaningful, inclusive and safe lived experience involvement. This will also support lived experience leadership feeding into the Hub management group and wider URKI Mental Health Platform.
Funded PhD to co-produce a Metabolic and Mental Health Accelerator (MMHA) online platform. The MMHA will combine continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), weight, BMI and self-reported symptoms to allow individuals with SMI to gain insight into trajectories of their own metabolic markers and potential relationships with mental health symptoms.
Dissemination and public engagement, ensuring outputs are understandable and accessible.
 
Regular communication and priority setting with workstream leads and relevant stakeholders, including people with lived experience, carers and family.

Our Team

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