Project details

Summary

What is the study about?

Our research team has been working for some time with mental health inpatient wards. One of the key messages of this related research is that it is stressful to work on these wards, for example, staff experience violence, verbal abuse, and see patients harming themselves, as well as hearing about traumatic experiences of patients, such as child abuse. Together, these experiences are known as ‘workplace trauma.’

Staff have also told us that racism, homophobia and abuse targeting disabilities happen a lot and can add to other workplace traumas. Our experience has told us that staff are not getting the support that they need. People from minority groups have told us that they had difficulties getting support at work. 

What are you trying to find out?

We think the workplace trauma support intervention may help staff in relation to  distressing experiences of work and we have adapted it to better meet the needs of all mental health inpatient staff including those with protected characteristics. We are now testing the intervention on 30 wards across the UK.  

We would like to interview stakeholders and staff about their thoughts and opinions on the workplace trauma support model.  We are also giving 10 staff and 5 service users (per ward) a number of questionnaires to complete every 2 months. 

Additionally. we are carrying out 30 hours observations on 15 of these wards. The purpose of these observations is to analyse the ward atmosphere and see how the approach is used by the staff on the wards.

We will use the data to evaluate the model and suggest areas to improve. 

Who is it for?

Inpatient staff: You have been invited to take part in this study because you either: 

• are currently working on acute mental health inpatient ward participating in the workplace trauma support research study.
• have experience working on/or oversight of a ward that has received the workplace trauma support model intervention  
• work more than 50% of your working week on the intervention ward 
• declined to participate in the workplace trauma support intervention 

We would like to hear from staff from all the different staffing groups, including clinical roles, non-clinical roles such as admin or estates and facilities roles, and at different pay bands.  

We would particularly like to hear from staff from minoritised groups to hear about their experiences so that we can understand whether the model is meeting the needs of certain groups or individuals, such as staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, LGBTQIA+ staff, staff who consider themselves to have a disability, and staff from a range of genders.

Service user: You have been invited to take part in this study because you:

• are currently staying on an acute mental health inpatient ward participating in the workplace trauma support research study.  

We would like to hear from all service users on the ward, but we’re also keen to hear  about whether people from certain groups have noticed a change on the ward e.g.  diverse ethnic communities, who identify as LGBTQIA+, who are from a range of genders or who have a disability. 

Stakeholders:  You have been invited to take part in this study because you:

• have experience of supporting staff or making changes on acute mental health inpatient wards 
• have particular expertise that we need to develop the workplace trauma support intervention e.g. equity, diversity and inclusion leads; quality improvement directors; estates and facilities leads.

What does taking part involve?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page.

Inpatient staff:

• We would like to interview staff about their thoughts and opinions on the workplace trauma support model, to see whether it is effective and is making any different to staff support. We will offer a £20 voucher as a thank you for taking part. 
• We are giving 10 staff and 5 service users (per ward) a number of questionnaires to complete every 2 months. Staff members will be randomly selected to ensure good representation of different protected characteristics. Staff will be asked to complete the questionnaires eight times in total. You will be offered the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 voucher (one per ward).
• We are carrying out 30 hours observations on 15 of these wards. We will be observing a number of different processes and environments on the ward to 
  see how the study is being used in practice. This includes observations of smaller meetings or sessions e.g. debriefs, handovers, ward rounds. We will ask for your 
  consent to observe while we are there. 

Service users: 

• We will be observing a number of different processes and environments on the ward to  see how the study is being used in practice. This includes observations of smaller meetings or sessions e.g. debriefs, handovers, ward rounds. We will ask for your consent to observe while we are there.
• We’re asking 5 service users per ward to complete a questionnaire about the ward atmosphere. We’re asking service users to repeat this questionnaire every 2 months if they are on the ward for a while.  You will be offered £12.50 as a thank you for completing the questionnaire.  

Stakeholders:

• We would like to interview stakeholders about their thoughts and opinions on the workplace trauma support model, how to overcome challenges we have encountered and how best to support staff on acute mental health inpatient wards. 

Why is it important? 

The findings from this study will:

• inform a ward-based intervention that aims to better support all staff (including those from minoritised groups) on inpatient wards
• contribute towards improving the environment of acute mental health inpatient wards.   

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page.

If you have questions for the research team, click the button below to email us:

Email the research team