Authentic public involvement in mental health research: The North East Mental Health Research Network’s strategy for capacity building

2012 Conference

Abstract: The poster will illustrate the role the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) is playing in the North East of England; with emphasis on their unique position to network with interested parties, for example service users, carers, academics, clinicians, NHS Trust Research and Development departments and universities.

The poster will present information gathered from a Service User and Carer Forum, held in 2001. Delegates were asked to express their opinions about:

• how they would like to get involved in research on a practical level
• the barriers they perceived to their involvement
• how these barriers might be overcome.

The poster will illustrate how this information was used to inform and generate a strategy for increasing capacity for authentic PPI in Mental Health research. One direct outcome of the strategy is highlighted: a service user and carer working on the group’s successful bid to produce the MHRN’s National Good Practice Guidelines for the Recruitment and Involvement of Service User and Carer Researchers.

Issues raised for discussion while generating the strategy included:

• The differences between ‘involvement’ and ‘participation’ in research
• Is collaboration the way forward for PPI in Mental Health research?