The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research embeds active public involvement and engagement throughout our programme of research.
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.
This includes people from the East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, and York.
The people we work with live in coastal, urban and rural communities, which are often under-served and face many challenges.
Contact: CAMHR_PPI@hull.ac.uk
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) define an under-served community as:
“A group that is less well represented in research than would be desirable from population prevalence and healthcare burden.”
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.
What is Patient and Public Involvment?
Public involvement is often defined as research ‘with’ or ‘by’ people who use services rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them.
We are working within the UK Standards for Public Involvement to promote communication, working together, inclusive opportunities, impact, governance, and support and learning.
Patient and public involvement and engagement is common across research in Health Sciences at the University of Hull
We are building partnerships with people with lived experience so their input can shape the research.
We work with individuals with lived experience to prioritise research topics, comment on and develop research materials, and offer real life perspectives during all stages of the research.
Our approach
We actively develop and annually review our public involvement strategy to include people with lived experience and make sure their role within the research is valued.
We work with young interns with lived experience, diverse advisory groups and professionals in key services, promoting their influence within the research.
For this research, we are looking for:
Young people (10-17) and adults (18+) with substance use disorder and mental health problems.
Individuals who have used mental health crisis services, looked for places of safety, or accessed emergency care departments.
Adults with alcohol use disorders who experience, or have experienced, problems with their memory, thinking or understanding.
Young people (18-25) with substance use disorder and mental health problems to get involved through internships.
What can you contribute to the research?
Your own lived experience is unique and brings knowledge to the research. Your experience as a carer or family member is also valuable.
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 matters to people.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research, Patient, Public Involvement and Engagement team work in partnership with Involve Hull.