Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research

Patient, Public Involvement and Engagement

We are working with people with lived experience, carers, families and users of services to have a voice in shaping our research from the earliest stage

Why is it important?

We want to build relationships and partnerships between people with lived experience and researchers, so they can shape our research together.

Public patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) in research is often defined as doing research ‘with’ or ‘by’ people who use services rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research's aim is to embed active PPIE throughout our programme of research. This includes individuals from:

East Riding, Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, or York
Coastal, Urban and Rural Communities

A group of people a overlay hands in the centre of a circle

What can you contribute to the research?

Your own lived experience is unique brings knowledge to the research, whether this is through your own personal experience or as a carer or family member. You do not need to know how research works.

Researchers know about addiction and mental health, and different methods of how to treat them. But most will not have lived through it. Sharing your experiences and views will fill these gaps in our understanding.

You can help us to focus on what really matters to people.

Who are we looking for?

Young people (10-17 years) and adults (18 years or more) with substance use disorder and mental health problems
Individuals who have experienced care pathways for mental health crisis, sought places of safety, or accessed emergency care departments
Adults with lived experience of alcohol use disorders who experience, or have experienced, problems with their memory, thinking or understanding
Young people aged 18-25 years with lived experience of substance use and mental health problems to get involved through internships

How could you help?

Working with research funders to prioritise research
Offering advice as members of a project steering group
Commenting on and developing research materials
Undertaking interviews with research participants.

We look forward to hearing from you

Want to find out more? Or maybe you’re ready to get involved in shaping research with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research?

We have two Patient and Public Involvement & Engagement Co-ordinators, who you can reach via the email below.

Get in touch: CAMHR_PPI@hull.ac.uk

People writing notes into notepads as part of a research session

What are we doing?

Engaging people with lived experience as part of the research process
Developing and annually reviewing our public involvement strategy to support inclusion of individuals with lived experience and ensure their role within the research is valued
Implementing advisory groups and supporting their influence within the research, both with individuals with lived experience and professionals in key services
Supporting Young Internships with lived experience
Working with under-served and disadvantaged communities.

What is an under-served community?

A group that is less well represented in research than would be desirable from population prevalence and healthcare burden.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

The definition is specific to the context. It can depend on the population, the condition under study, the question being asked by research teams and the intervention being tested.

Common characteristics are likely to include lower inclusion in research than we would expect from population estimates and high healthcare burden that is not matched by the volume of research designed for the group.

It is also important to consider the differences in how a group responds to or engages with healthcare interventions, with research failing to address these factors.

Public Involvement in University of Hull research

At the University of Hull, we want this approach to become a simple, universal part of the way that we do all of our Health Sciences research.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research is are working within the Infrastructure of Involve Hull, The University' Public Involvement Network.

Find out more about University of Hull Patient and Public Involvement

Committed to national standards for best practice

Our objectives are set within the framework of the UK Standards for Public Involvement, which provides guidelines for what good public involvement in research looks like. The standards cover: