Our research news

The University of Sussex is carrying out a new study, MINDARISE, to see if mindfulness can help with some of the 

stress that NHS staff are currently experiencing.  

We are asking for NHS staff who have ever practiced mindfulness, even if that means you don’t practice currently. 

Maybe you’ve attended a mindfulness class or course. Maybe you use a mindfulness app like Headspace. Maybe 

you read a book on mindfulness and intentionally bring mindfulness into your daily routines. 

We need to find out what NHS staff are already doing with mindfulness, whether mindfulness actually helps staff on a 

range of outcomes, and what can be optimised to help overcome the hurdles that staff are currently facing.  

To keep it simple, we are asking participants to complete a few online questionnaires at three separate time-

points over six months, with the additional option of a remote Zoom interview for those who are keen. 

Participants who do answer all three questionnaires will be given the chance to win one of five £50 amazon gift vouchers. 

You will not need to take any time off work and times are flexible!  

If you would like more information on this 

study, please contacting the research department at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust:  

askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk 

Phone: 0300 304 0088

Clinical trials across the south east are underway to investigate if an existing medicine can potentially work as a disease-modifying option for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Novo Nordisk is now working alongside Join Dementia Research to investigate if semaglutide could benefit people living with early Alzheimer’s disease

For this phase 3 clinical trial, researchers are recruiting through Join Dementia Research - a national registry – and clinics, to find people aged 55 - 85 with a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or early Alzheimer’s disease.

If eligible, patients in the trial will be given either semaglutide or a dummy medicine (known as a placebo) and asked to take one tablet a day. As this is double-blind randomised controlled trial, neither the patients nor the researchers will know who has the active medicine and who has the placebo.

All patients will receive regular clinic visits, health checks and medical testing. They will have access to expert guidance and facilities during the study.

It is hoped that 3500 participants globally will take part over a three-year period. In Sussex we are recruiting from the Dementia Research Unit at Sussex Partnership.

The study’s Chief Investigator Professor Naji Tabet of Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “This phase 3 clinical trial will assess the medicine’s efficacy and safety profile in people living with early Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

“We will measure the impact of the study drug by collecting data on our patients’ health, cognition, ability to perform daily activities and general wellbeing at the start and end of the study. This is an important study and we are pleased that we are part of this multinational clinical trial. I would encourage anyone with early Alzheimer’s disease or MCI to consider taking part.”

Semaglutide is an investigatory medicine and is not licensed for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease.

Participants will need to:

● Take one tablet every day

● Perform memory tests and questionnaires on how well they manage daily routines

● Provide blood samples at ten of the clinic visits.

● Undergo 1 brain MRI or CT scan to look at brain structure *

● Undergo 1 PET brain scan or a spinal tap to test for amyloid (a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease) *

● Have a study partner (someone to accompany them to appointments)

* Patients will have the opportunity to discuss the results of these scans with their study doctor before taking any medication.

Anyone who is interested in taking part should sign up to Join Dementia Research and if they are eligible, a member of the study team will contact them. If you would like a chat about this study please contact our Dementia research Unit: dementiaresearchunit@spft.nhs.uk for more information.

Our Immunopsychiatry Clinic is running a new psychoeducation programme and has highlighted four areas of Immunopsychiatry :

1. Understanding and managing psychiatric symptoms of inflammatory conditions and side effects of medications
2. Mind-body therapies
3. Nutritional strategies to regulate inflammation and immunity
4. Psychological strategies to cope with chronic inflammatory illness

Aim of the programme

To provide information to develop a better understanding of the

interactions between inflammation and mental health, in order to

develop better coping techniques to manage symptoms.

Who can attend?  

This programme is open to anyone with a diagnosis of mood disorder and chronic inflammatory condition.

For more information, see the poster and please get in touch : 

E: ImmunoPsychiatryClinic@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

The new SuPER clinic is seeking SPFT service users, families and carers and experts by experience of psychosis to design an image for the clinic, to use on our materials and resources.

The image should represent the SuPER clinic - supporting people to make sense of their experiences, of service user-centred research and of recovery.

All the information is here - including that we will pay for the chosen design.

The deadline is Friday 16 September 2022.

The Sussex Psychosis (Paranoia) Experiences and Recovery clinic (SuPER) is a new research clinic in SPFT supporting people with unusual distressing experiences and fear of harm from others in the context of psychosis. We will develop, evaluate and implement evidence-based psychological therapies in adult community mental health teams.

For more information about the clinic and the therapies - for staff please see our intranet page: Research Clinics (sussexpartnership.nhs.uk)

For the public - our clinic page will be uploaded soon here

or email SuPERclinic@spft.nhs.uk

This study aims to evaluate the potential use of finger sweat compared to conventional blood sample collection to detect and monitor antipsychotic drugs (and their metabolites) using mass spectrometry.

At the moment, if clinicians have concerns about whether treatment is working, they will order a blood or urine test. These tests are quite invasive and can be unpleasant for some patients. We are investigating whether finger sweat could be used as an alternative method to assess drug levels.

This research project is part of an educational project, which will be carried out by PhD student Katie Longman at the University of Surrey in collaboration with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. 

For more information, please contact:

Evelin Vogel T: 07391408833, E: askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

Around 90 people from in and around Sussex came together at an event held on 16 June to pledge their support and help develop ambitions around community-based emotional wellbeing and mental health youth interventions for 16-25year olds.   

Representatives for the education, voluntary, community sector, children's social care, local authorities, Integrated Care System, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, as well as young people themselves, attended at the Sussex Youth Mental Health 'call to action' Summit, in Brighton, to find ways to change and help reform mental health and wellbeing services for young people.

The event, co-ordinated by Kent, Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network (KSS AHSN), NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) in partnership with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) and was co-facilitated by young people from Varndean School in Brighton.

In support of the event, Member of Parliament for Chichester and Minister of State for Care and Mental Health, Gillian Keegan MP, gave the opening address by video message to all attendees thanking them for dedication to improving mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people across Sussex. 

Professor David Fowler, ARC KSS Starting Well: Children and Young People's Mental Health Lead, talked about how research conducted to help develop better outcomes for 16-25year olds in Sussex. He said:

"I am delighted to have been involved in this summit with so many key partners from across Sussex involved in the delivery of mental health services for children and young people aged 16-25.

"It has also been a privilege to meet so many young people themselves and a great opportunity to discuss the research we are currently undertaking to develop community-based youth mental health interventions in collaboration with key stakeholders from across the region."

In the afternoon, members of the audience were asked to agree their collective ambitions and pledge their commitment to improving outcomes for 16-25year olds.

·       For further information on ARC KSS Starting Well Children's Mental Health Projects visit our website.

·       Latest research initiatives at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) to support and involve young people include:

• Mental Health Support Research Clinic - delivering and evaluating support for young people in schools.
• PPI Youth Café - for those young people looking to get involved in research. SPFT are looking for young people to help shape research. Click on link for further information: the 16-24 age group and the 11-15 age group
• The TOGETHER study is seeking views of supporting social connectedness for young people with mental health problems. The study is looking for practitioners (from any service) who support young people aged 16-25 years to take part in a short online survey. 

For more information and to take part, click here. If you have any questions about the study, please contact Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking for participants between 65 and 85 years old for a study that investigates how ageing affects how we understand and remember short stories.

People with a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) usually have difficulties with their memory and can also have other problems with their comprehension and reasoning. Although numerous studies have investigated memory in adults with MCI, there have been very few studies investigating whether MCI causes problems in comprehending a situation as it unfolds and being able to recall something immediately after it happens.

The proposed study will test comprehension and memory for short stories. In particular, we will contrast stories that contain two separate activities (e.g. looking for car keys then making a sandwich) with equally long stories that contain just one activity (e.g. looking for car keys). Our hypothesis is that individuals with MCI will find the switch between the two activities disruptive and it will impair both their comprehension and their memory for the story.

The study involves one meeting, lasting two and a half hours - between October 2021 and September 2022

We will ask you to listen to short stories describing real life situations and to remember them later.

You can choose whether you prefer to carry out this study at home or at the University of Sussex.

We will reimburse you for your time and your travel expenses.

For more information please email: dementiaresearchunit@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk or email Dr Flavia de Luca on fd223@sussex.ac.uk

See the recruitment poster here

The research into mental health and wellbeing at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised with the appointment of a further member of its research team to a professorship.

Clara Strauss, Deputy Director of Research at Sussex Partnership and Professor of Clinical Psychology in the University of Sussex School of Psychology, co-leads the Sussex Mindfulness Centre and specialises in research into mindfulness and its relationship to wellbeing. As well as leading the Sussex OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) Research Clinic, she has recently started leading a research project exploring the benefits of outdoor cold-water swimming to mental health.

Clara said: "I'm delighted our research has been recognised and I'm grateful for the hard work of colleagues who I've been fortunate to work with on a range of projects.  Successful research relies on collaboration between team members and the generosity of people who take part in the studies."

In her latest project, 'Outside', Clara is part of a team led by Dr Heather Massey from Portsmouth University, investigating whether cold-water swimming can help adults with depression, alongside a number of other Sussex Partnership staff including Hannah Denton, Sam Robertson and Anna-Marie Jones.

Clara said: "At any one time one in ten people in the UK experience depression and many will experience depression more than once. Exploring the benefits of cold-water swimming is an exciting piece of research as it could identify another option to people who suffer from what is sadly becoming a common condition."

Sussex Partnership is in the top 5 mental health Trusts in the UK, in terms of the number of participants recruited to high-quality  studies. Last year more than two thousand people took part in research within the Trust.

Professor Mark Hayward, Director of Research at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: "Research is an extremely important part of the work of the Trust. The pandemic has created additional need for mental health and wellbeing support right across the country and we're committed to finding the most effective ways of treating people who are in need of help."

Clara joins a group of six professors within the Trust who have led studies into a range of areas of mental health and wellbeing including psychosis, dementia, mind-body interactions, staff well-being, and young people's mental health. They work collaboratively with national and international research leaders to find new and innovative ways to help people with their mental health.

For more information about 'Outside' please visit the study website 

Further infomation: 

Sussex Partnership's research clinics bring together researchers and clinicians to implement and evaluate the latest interventions, thereby bridging the gap between research and clinical practice. All clinics work with service users (people with lived experience) to inform the service, research and treatments. Established clinics carry out research into voice-hearing, OCD, eating disorders and immunopsychiatry. New clinics are planned to support people with paranoia, neurodevelopmental conditions, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and young people with emerging mental health problems through the school pathway.

Other Professors at Sussex Partnership are:

Prof David Fowler  who leads on research on the importance of social connectivity and Social Recovery Therapy.

Prof Hugo Critchley who leads on neurobehavioural research and the complex links between the brain and body, such the link between hypermobility and anxiety, ADHT and Tourette's.

Prof Naji Tabet  who leads on dementia research in the region and is the head of clinical/drug trials from our Dementia Research Unit in Crowborough. 

Prof Kathryn Greenwood who leads on psychosis research and early intervention for better outcomes.

Prof Mark Hayward who leads on research to develop therapies for people who are distressed by voice-hearing (Sussex Voices Clinic) as well as co-leads research at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, as Research Director, with Clara Strauss.

Are you interested in helping young people’s mental health research by sharing your views of supporting social connectedness for young people with mental health problems?

TOGETHER: Trialling an optimised social groups intervention in services to enhance social connectedness and mental Health in young people: A feasibility study

The study is looking for practitioners (from any service) who support young people aged 16-25 years to take part in a short online survey. For more information and to take part, see: https://universityofsussex.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9GHknh8iv22oEiW 

See more information in the poster here

Why is the project being done?

An intervention known as ‘Groups 4 Health’ (G4H) has been created by a team in Australia. G4H is designed to help people with their social relationships and mental health. Past research has found that the Groups 4 Health intervention has helped people with their feelings of loneliness, their connections with other people, and their well-being. So far, this intervention has not been investigated in the United Kingdom with young people. To learn if the intervention is helpful for young people in this country, it first needs to go through a small pilot research study.

This project will help us to learn:

• What the intervention experience is like, and how we can make the intervention better, for young people with mental health difficulties and intervention providers
• What practitioners working with young people think about the idea of the intervention and supporting social relationships and connectedness in their practice
• Do our plans for this research study work? For example, do we get enough people who want to take part? Do people stay involved for the whole study? 

If you have any questions about the study, please contact the research team::

Email: evelin.vogel@spft.nhs.uk or askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

We are excited to announce that we will be launching a new Youth PPI Café for those young people aged 11-15 years old. As with our older Youth PPI Café, we are looking to set this up with young people involved from the very beginning. 

Therefore, we are looking to put together an advisory group, made up of young people aged 11-15, to work with the Youth PPI Café team, to develop this new space for involvement in mental health research. This advisory group will be responsible for shaping the format of the new Youth PPI Cafe, and offering advice around recruiting to this space. 

If you know anyone who might be interested in joining this advisory group, please do get in touch. 

See our recruitment poster for the youth cafe for young people aged 11-15 here

Upcoming Youth Cafes

See the recruitment poster for young people aged 16-24 here

Please find the dates for upcoming Cafes, along with the researchers that are booked in. Please note that this is subject to change, the researchers for the session may be changed, but I will update you if this happens. There may be additional cafe's in each month. 

June 15th Health behaviour in school aged children team

We will be joined by Tamsyn from the HBSC (Health behaviour in school aged children) study. We will discuss a recorded lesson that is being developed for schools based on the experience of setting up and running HBSC in schools. This lesson will be aligned with the science and maths curriculum for key stages 3 & 4. The researchers are looking at how we put together a survey, sample schools and analyse/present data - then circulate findings for action. There is currently a drafted a PowerPoint which will have a voice over and teacher notes. Tamsyn would really benefit from hearing your thoughts on this!

July 13th Jasmine Hubbard 

We will be joined by Jasmine Hubbard, from Canterbury Christ Church University and Brighton CAMHS. Her study aims to validate a measure of self-compassion, and compassion for others, for use with young people. This will help advance research in the field of compassion by enabling robust research to be conducted, for example, evaluating the outcome of compassion-based interventions that aim to teach young people skills to support their wellbeing. The study will also increase our understanding of compassion in young people, and how compassion is related to psychological and social wellbeing, such as depression and peer victimisation. We will look at the length, format and readability of the Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales (SOCS) items, consent forms, and debrief sheets.

August 17th Health behaviour in school aged children team

We will be joined by Tamsyn from the HBSC (Health behaviour in school aged children) study. In this session, we will advance on our last session considering the questionnaire (in February) and will now consider the data collected around sleep. The data will be shared with you in a step-by-step format. Tamsyn would be very grateful for your views on this!

September 14th: Young Healthwatch

We will be joined by Young Healthwatch.The purpose of this study is to investigate experiences of primary care (GPs and Pharmacies) for supporting young people’s mental health in East Sussex. Please see the information booklet for more information. 

October 12th: Damla Harmanci

We will be joined by Damla from Brighton and Sussex Medical school. The project she is working is interested in the mental health, sexual health and substance use behaviours of young people between the ages of 16 and 24. In particular, she wants future work in the project to address the associations between young people's mental health and sexual health/substance use. Damla is hoping a greater understanding here could help inform service provision targeting young people at a later stage. She is looking for young people to advise the project and give direction to the primary data collection stage to follow (including aims and methods).

Contact us:

For any queries please contact Julia, our Youth PPI Café Coordination Officer. Julia.Hickson@spft.nhs.uk

For any comments or queries about the getting a place in the session, the newsletter, or Instagram, please email YouthPPIcafe@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk 

The CRQ study is seeking views of carers who are involved in supporting a loved one who has experience of psychosis

The study is aiming to carry out full testing of a new questionnaire that looks at the wellbeing of carers of those with psychosis and schizophrenia. It is a one off survey, that has been developed with the help of carers, and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. The questions will explore how well carers have adjusted to their new caring role and whether they have found new purpose and meaning from their caring role.

Here's the link to the study: https://lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_29RSdszkpqCefbM

See more information on the study website:  https://carerrecovery.wordpress.com

If you would like to talk to someone about the study, please email: askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

Practices, attitudes and outcomes of patients with memory problems

We are looking for people who were referred to the Memory Assessment Service to participate in a questionnaire study about their experiences following assessment.

We want to understand how assessment at specialist memory clinics may impact the attitudes, views, and lifestyle choices of people who do not receive a dementia diagnosis, as this is not known.

• Memory problems and some degree of memory dysfunction is common in old age. Patients referred to memory clinics who do not meet criteria for dementia diagnosis are mainly diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive impairment and age associated memory decline. Patients with these diagnoses are discharged and many are lost to follow up. The reaction, impact and outcome for these patients following diagnosis is not clearly established.
• The aim of this study is to understand the attitudes, views and practices of patients with memory problems but no diagnosis of dementia immediately after memory clinic assessment and a year later.
• We would also like to understand how the assessment may impact the patients' lifestyle practices during the year following assessment.

Understanding these attitudes can determine the dynamics, including the harms and benefits, of not receiving a dementia diagnosis to the patients and their family. 

This can inform health policy strategy accordingly, helping patients live well with memory problems, regardless of whether or not a formal diagnosis of dementia is made. 

This study opened in Feb 2022 and is recruiting through the Memory Assessment Services at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Who can take part? (1) Aged 50 or over; (2) Were given no diagnosis; or (3) Diagnosed with either: mild cognitive impairment; subjective memory complaints; age related memory loss (but not dementia)

What will taking part inolve? A questionnaire about your attitudes, views, and lifestyle changes following memory assessment at a specialist memory clinic

When? Immediately after diagnosis (within 6 weeks), and in one year’s time

How? You can complete the questionnaire online or by post

Contact: Please contact Atsuko Fujisawa at the Dementia Research Unit

T: 01892 603 107 E: dementiaresearchunit@spft.nhs.uk 

See the study flyer here

An intervention known as ‘Groups 4 Health’ (G4H) has been created by a team in Australia. G4H is designed to help people with their social relationships and mental health. Past research has found that the Groups 4 Health intervention has helped people with their feelings of loneliness, their connections with other people, and their well-being. So far, this intervention has not been investigated in the United Kingdom with young people. To learn if the intervention is helpful for young people in this country, it first needs to go through a small pilot research study, known as TOGETHER.

The intervention aims to:

• Raise awareness of the value and benefits of groups for health
• Develop social maps to identify existing connections and possible areas for social growth
• ·Train skills to maintain and use existing networks, and/or reconnect with valued groups
• Explore if existing connections reflect the important aspect of the self, and create a social plan of action
• Reinforce key messages and troubleshoot any problems experienced with implementing social plan

Evelin Vogel will support recruitment to the part of the study which is exploring clinician's experiences of delivering the intervention to the young people involved. We will ask for views on any changes that should be made to make the intervention better.

Claire Vella will be working with services to support recruitment of the 16-25 year olds to the main study which includes the intervention, to be delivered by an SPFT CAMHS Assertive Outreach Team and YMCA Crawley Youth Advisory Centre.

This study opens in April 2022. For more information please contact us: askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

Is it possible to reduce the distress associated with auditory hallucinations (also known as hearing voices)?

Professor Mark Hayward answers questions posed to him about voice-hearing and treating auditory hallucinations for Psychwire ASK. Mark, clinical psychologist, Research Director at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Director of Sussex Voices Clinic, was selected as an expert in voice hearing experiences within the ASK programme.

Can patients learn to accept their voice hearing experiences?
Will successful therapy remove the experience of distressing voices entirely?
Does the stigma around hearing voices influence the approach to therapy?

See the answers here

This will help build a fantastic resource for the general public and health professionals worldwide.

Are you a health/social care professional or student working with users of Assistive Technology (AT), ie with people with learning disabilities or dementia? 

If so, you may be interested in a new free training programme being developed as part of the ADAPT Project. Thee participant group would largely be clinical staff working with patients living with dementia or with learning disabilities.

The ADAPT AT Training is being evaluated by Canterbury Christ Church University.  Following completion of each Unit you will be invited to participate in the research study, which involves completing an online questionnaire regarding your experiences and views of the training.  Your participation in the study will help further shape the training as well as determine its impact on practitioner knowledge/understanding in the area.

UNIT 1 : Foundations of Assistive Technology

UNIT 2: Understanding Disability

UNIT 3 : Assistive Technology for Posture and Mobility

UNIT 4 : Assistive Technology for Communication

UNIT 5 : Evidence-based practice for Assistive Technology

UNIT 6 : Train the Trainer in the use of SMART wheelchair technology

See the flyer here

For further information, please visit  https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/medicine-health-and-social-care/adapt/the-adapt-project.aspx

If you would like to enrol, please email adapt.training@canterbury.ac.uk

We are preparing for our Centre for Dementia Studies online research conference which is going to run over two days and we'd like to invite you to attend:

23 & 24 February 2022, 10.00am - 4.00pm (GMT)

Professor Naji Tabet, Director Centre for Dementia Studies and Dementia Lead ARC KSS, will host a range of speakers (with a mix of live and pre-recorded presentations) focusing on key themes: implementation of findings in clinical services and Improving quality of life for people with dementia and their families and carers.

Everyone welcome

See the flyer with more information here

Please book your free place via Eventbrite: https://centrefordementiastudiesconference2022.eventbrite.co.uk

Caring for someone with dementia can be exhausting as sleep for the person with dementia and also the carer can be disrupted. Sussex Partnership is taking part in a trial of strategies that could help promote better sleep. Little changes could make a big difference and the carer can apply them to their own sleep regime and also to help their relative with dementia. 

We want to see if people who receive DREAMS START (Dementia Related Manual for Sleep: Strategies for Relatives) have better outcomes than people who receive usual care without DREAMS START.We would like to invite family or friends who support someone living with dementia to try out a new intervention (DREAMS START) to reduce the sleep difficulties experienced by people living with dementia at home.  

The study is led by University College London (UCL) with Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Oxford, the University of Sussex, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust and University of Plymouth. It is funded by the National Institute of Health Research: Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA).

See the poster here

For more information, please contact Caroline Connell: dementiaresearchunit@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

Common antidepressant should no longer be used to treat people with dementia, study says

A drug used to treat agitation in people with dementia is no more effective than a placebo, and might even increase mortality, according to a new study.

The research, led by the University of Plymouth and published in The Lancet, has shown that antidepressant mirtazapine offered no improvement in agitation for people with dementia – and was possibly more likely to be associated with mortality than no intervention at all.  

Agitation is a common symptom of dementia, characterised by inappropriate verbal, vocal or motor activity, and often involves physical and verbal aggression. Non-drug patient-centred care is the first intervention that should be offered but, when this doesn’t work, clinicians may move to a drug-based alternative.

Antipsychotics have proven to increase death rates in those with dementia, along with other poor outcomes, and so mirtazapine has been routinely prescribed. This study was designed to add to the evidence base around its effectiveness.

Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the study recruited 204 people with probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease from 20 sites around the UK, allocating half to mirtazapine and half to placebo. The trial was double-blind; meaning that neither the researcher nor the study participants knew what they were taking.

The results showed that there was no less agitation after 12 weeks in the mirtazapine group than in the control group. There were also more deaths in the mirtazapine group (seven) by week 16 than in the control group (only one), with analysis suggesting this was of marginal statistical significance.

Lead researcher Professor Sube Banerjee, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Professor in Dementia at the University of Plymouth, explained why the results were so surprising, but important.

“Dementia affects 46 million people worldwide – a figure set to double over the next 20 years. Poor life quality is driven by problems like agitation and we need to find ways to help those affected,” he said.

“This study shows that a common way of managing symptoms is not helpful – and could even be detrimental. It’s really important that these results are taken into account and mirtazapine is no longer used to treat agitation in people with dementia.

“This study has added important information to the evidence base, and we look forward to investigating further treatments that may help to improve people’s quality of life.”

Dr Richard Oakley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Society said: “Unnecessary prescribing of antipsychotics to people with dementia is dangerous and associated with a higher risk of death, which is why we’ve been campaigning hard to reduce levels since the late 90s, saving tens of thousands of lives. The gold star treatments for agitation don’t involve drugs and are tailored to the person – like arts and crafts or movement to music. In recent years antidepressants – like mirtazapine – have been considered a fallback if non-drug approaches don’t work.

 “While only a small study, these results suggest a rethink is needed. Not only was the drug ineffective at reducing agitation, it was associated with more deaths, suggesting mirtazapine should be avoided in Alzheimer’s – and research carried out to understand its effects in other types of dementia.”

"This is a large national randomised controlled trial led by BSMS which also involved over 20 clinical research centres across the UK. Our study tested mirtazapine for the treatment of patients with dementia who present with agitation. The data showed no benefit for mirtazapine with potential for serious side effects. The negative results show again the challenges faced by clinicians in managing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and alert specialists to the potential harm of using commonly available psychotropic medications, especially when efficacy is unproven". Professor Naji Tabet, Director of Centre for Dementia Studies, BSMS

“As a multi centre complex clinical trial - SYMBAD was fully supported by the Joint Clinical Research Office (JCRO) who ensured seamless set up, co-ordination and delivery throughout the three years of the project. It is wonderful to see the fruition of all the hard work across the multiple functions and organisations involved in SYMBAD with this Lancet publication. SYMBAD has produced not only publications and outcomes for patients but also established BSMS as a playing a lead role in the design and delivery of large scale, high quality clinical trials.”  Tanya Telling, Joint Clinical Research Office (JCRO)

The full study, entitled Study of mirtazapine for agitated behaviours in dementia (SYMBAD): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, is available to view in The Lancet.

See this link  

The study was co-authored by:

·       University of East Anglia, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, LSE, University of Exeter, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation NHS Trust, University of Manchester, UCL, Trinity College Dublin, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Alzheimer’s Society Research Network,  University of Cambridge, Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust, Newcastle University. Sussex Partnerhship was pleased to be a site for this study and extends thanks to everyone who took part.

Information provided by University of Plymouth

Our Dementia Research Unit is delighted to be part of a new drug study called 'ASPECT'

This study is looking at a drug called AVP-786. It is anticipated that AVP-786 will have a positive effect on agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. The study drug has been tested in 15 completed neuropsychiatric studies and has been safe and generally well tolerated so far. This study will assess the effectiveness, safety and tolerability of two doses of AVP-786 compared to placebo.

The study will include approximately 750 participants aged between 50-90 years old. Duration of participation is approximately 20 weeks including a 4 week screening period, 12 week treatment period and one month safety follow up period. Treatment will be blinded, meaning no-one will know which treatment participants receive. Participants will undergo procedures such as blood samples, questionnaires and ECGs. Each participant must have an appointed caregiver who has direct and regular contact with them (at least 2 hours a day for 4 days a week), to provide reliable answers to questions related to the participant and also themselves.

 THANK YOU very much for your continued support of dementia research.  It is referrals from our clinicians at Sussex Partnership and the volunteers participating that enables clinical research and ultimately improved treatments and care. 

This is a global drug study from Avanir pharmaceuticals and we are delighted to be one of 7 sites across the UK.

The study opened October 2021 and is planned to close closure October 2024

For more information please contact: Rachel Russell, Dementia Research Nurse

DementiaResearchUnit@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

The 'Practical Handbook Of Hearing Voices: Therapeutic And Creative Approaches' includes chapters written by Dr Mark Hayward, who writes from a clinical perspective and Angie Culham and Sheila Evenden, participants in therapy for voice-hearing.

'Voice-hearing’ generally means hearing someone or something talking when the source of the voice does not seem to be physically present. For some people this experience can be unwanted, intrusive and distracting, and the voices can be very negative and critical in what they say. It may not be possible to make the voices go away, but there are lots of ways to try and live well despite the continued presence of voices and this is the focus of the book.

The chapters written by the Sussex experts focus upon Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Relating Therapy, two of the therapeutic approaches utilized within the Sussex Voices Clinic. Each of these approaches encourages hearers to accept, rather than instinctively fight against the voices. From this position of acceptance, hearers are supported to be curious and ask questions about their voices and explore the accuracy of their comments: am I as worthless as the voices say I am; can the voices make bad things happen if I disobey them; what do I want to do? In Relating Therapy, they learn to stand-up for this view by assertively responding to voices. Angie and Sheila share some of their experience of Relating Therapy and how it supported them to relate differently to their voices. Some of these insights are shared through poetry.

The book will be a useful resource for practitioners and trainee practitioners in this fields as well as for people who hear voices and their families and friends.

Angie Culham, who has benefited from relating therapy, said' 'Relating therapy was very helpful for me. I struggled with it a bit at first because it’s a bit intense but it's worth that bit of discomfort to get to the outcome. I don't get so bullied by my voices now that I've learned to be more assertive with them.'

Sheila Evenden, who has also benefited from relating therapy, said, 'It has made a huge impact on my life - I feel like I'm an active participant in my own therapy. I've also found the therapists are interested in me as an individual, which is in itself therapeutic.'

To find out more please contact: 

research@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

If you would like to contact the Voices Clinic:

Email: voices.clinic@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

Tel: 07825 752279

Twitter@sussexvoices

Evoke (and Evoke+) is a 3-year study which aims to find out whether an established diabetes drug (Semaglutide) has a positive effect on early Alzheimer’s disease. The trial will compare Semaglutide against a placebo on the effect on cognition and daily functioning. Semaglutide is already used to treat people with type-2 diabetes. 

Participants will take part at our Dementia Research Unit, based in Crowborough. 

Our friendly team of clinical research coordinators will take you through every stage of the research process, including consents and a cuppa. Travel expenses will be reimbursed, plus refreshments and a small inconvenience payment.

Professor Naji Tabet, Director Centre for Dementia Studies and Dementia Research Unit is the UK Chief Investigator on these studies.

Who can take part? 

You may be able to take part if you are: 

• Aged 55-85 

• Have a diagnosis of Mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease 

• Have a study partner who is willing to take part in the study with you. 

See the study information leaflet

To find out more please contact: 

Sinead Clarke-O'Neill or Marcela Carvajal
Clinical Research Coordinators
Dementia Research Unit, Grove House, 
Crowborough TN6 1HB

Office Tel: 01892 603107 (Please leave a message)
Email: dementiaresearchunit@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

We're running a exploring the experiences that people from Ethnic Minority communities have had when accessing and engaging with Sussex Partnership Foundation NHS Trust (SPFT) services, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The responses will help us better understand what is working well and to make recommendations to the Trust Board on what could work better.

We are looking for service users to share their feedback

Who can take part? 

• Aged 16 years or over
• Identify as being from any of the following groups Arabic, Asian, Black/Caribbean/African, Chinese, South Asian, of mixed heritage or any other UK ethnic minority group.
• Speaker of any language (translations and interpreters can be provided)
• Either a current or past SPFT user of secondary services but must have used the services since March 2020

 What does taking part in the study involve?

• Creative Workshops: To explore your experiences of accessing Sussex Partnership NHS Services.

                                                              And/Or

• Semi-Structured Interviews: Conducted with a Peer Research Assistant via telephone or virtual platform (e.g. Zoom)

Participants will receive vouchers as a 'Thank You' for their time and efforts in the study. Please see the study poster for more information

For more info or to refer potential participants, please contact kiranpal.kaur@spft.nhs.uk or aparajita.pandey@spft.nhs.uk

Four new research clinics have been commissioned to support people with a range of mental health issues in Sussex.

The clinics, run by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, will centre around providing help, advice and treatment for people with paranoia, neurodevelopmental conditions, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and young people with emerging mental health problems in schools.

Sussex Partnership provides specialist mental health and learning disability services across the south east, and has a one of the most research-active mental health Trusts in England, focusing on dementia, young people, psychosis, brain and body, mood and anxiety, learning disability, personality, emergency and complex care, and approaches to involvement and recovery.

The clinics create innovative environments that bring together researchers and clinicians to implement and evaluate the latest interventions.

Dr Mark Hayward, Director of Research and Development and Lead for the Sussex Voices Clinic at Sussex Partnership, said: “We are committed to offering treatments to our patients that are informed by the latest research evidence. Expanding our research clinics will support us in this respect. But we don’t want to stop there! We want to keep asking questions about how these interventions can be improved and offered to more patients. Our clinics will bring together researchers and clinicians to establish a virtuous cycle that will help us to continuously improve the services that we offer to our patients.” 

The four new clinics will help bridge the gap that often exists between research and clinical practice, as well as working with service users and people with lived experience of mental health conditions to help inform the service, research and treatments.

The four new clinics are:

 The Neurodivergent Brain-Body research clinic which will run within the existing clinical service, to provide and evaluate targeted interventions to improve both physical and mental health for neurodivergent people in Sussex. Neurodevelopmental conditions affect up to 10% of the population and include autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Tourette syndrome, contributing to neurodivergence. 

·       The Mental Health Support Team Research Clinic will work within schools as this is the place where young people spend much of their time. Although there are evidence-based treatments for depression and anxiety in young people, most young people do not access these treatments for a variety of reasons. First steps will be to evaluate the effectiveness of this configuration in the school setting and then develop training to support children and young people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), PTSD, Autism, and neurodiversity in this context.

·       The SlowMo Research Clinic will implement SlowMo therapy in Sussex Partnership Assessment and Treatment and Recovery services. SlowMo is the first evidence-based (from the national SlowMo study) digital psychological therapy designed specifically for paranoia. This eight-week therapy is assisted by an app downloaded onto a mobile phone. Therapists work with the person to identify their worries, and then help them find ways to slow down and take a moment when they notice their worries. The clinic will work closely with the Sussex Recovery College to integrate the therapy into the curriculum and to promote early intervention and self-management.

·   TThe PTSD Research Clinic will allow the Trust to improve outcomes for people with PTSD, by increasing access to evidence-informed treatments and also supporting researchers to learn what treatments work for whom. The experience of traumatic events is common in people supported by mental health services. A significant proportion of people meet criteria for PTSD, including Complex PTSD. It is likely that there will be an increase in people seeking help for PTSD, given the context of Covid-19 exacerbating pre-existing PTSD, and newly developed PTSD from Covid-related and other experiences.

These new clinics will join our other clinics which lead on research into voice-hearing, OCD, eating disorders and immunopsychiatry.

Depression is very common in people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, causing them distress as well as reducing their quality of life and that of their carers. Unfortunately, antidepressant drugs do not have clear effectiveness in these patients and it appears that the most commonly available psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT are also not consistently useful.

The PATHFINDER study will investigate whether an adapted form of problem-solving therapy called Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH), which has been reported to be helpful in the very early stages of dementia in an American university-based healthcare system, can be successfully applied in an NHS setting and with patients who are representative of those seen with dementia and depression in the NHS.

If you would like to talk to us about this study, please contact us

Can you help increase our understanding of the impact of coronavirus and changing of restrictions on our mental health?

We're supporting researchers from the University and Southern Health to ask people to complete a short, 15 minute questionnaire about the impact coronavirus has had on their lives and how people are coping with restrictions changing. They will use this information to support our understanding of how our mental health and wellbeing may be being affected by the pandemic but also what may be helpful for people.

Can you spare 15 minutes to help? Click on the link to the questionnaire for more information: bit.ly/PIOC19-3

When asked where you heard about this study, please select NHS Trust/Hospital

and on the following page please select ‘Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’

For more information please contact us: askaboutresearch@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

We’re looking for family members or friends who support someone living with dementia at home to test whether a new intervention (DREAMS START) can reduce the sleep difficulties experienced by people living with dementia.

If DREAMS START is helpful, we hope to make it available to everyone after the study.

More information on the study is available here.

We all use technology in our daily lives and so the 'Minder' study is looking at how we could harness it to monitor our health and assist the way we live.

‘Minder’ is a survey of your thoughts and perceptions of medical devices (technology which is used to diagnose, monitor, or treat a health condition). We are interested in hearing from everyone over 18, those who have and those who haven’t had experience with medical devices.

The online survey takes 10 minutes to complete. For more information and to take part please click here  

When asked, “How did you hear about this survey?” Please select Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to be part of a study exploring a new and inexpensive dementia screening tool in the NHS to improve identification and diagnosis of dementia.

It’s is a quick and easy to use test of cognitive performance, using an iPad. Patients who have been referred to NHS memory clinics will be asked to take the ICA, as well as all of the other standard assessments taken as part of their appointment. 

Dr Naji Tabet, Lead at our Dementia Research Unit and Centre for Dementia Studies, was filmed demonstrating the ADePT (Accelerating Dementia Pathway Technologies) tool on the BBC tech show Click which aired 15/05/2021. You can catch the episode on BBC iPlayer here and we are featured at about 21 minutes in).

Would you like to find out more? Please contact us by emailing: dementiaresearchunit@sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

SlowMo is an evidence-based digitally supported therapy for paranoia, which combines face-to-face brief therapy with interactive technology. 

Using a mobile app, People learn to slow down for a moment using personalised safer thoughts which helps people feel safer in daily life.

Therapy was focussed on helping people to become aware of and change fast thinking habits which our previous research has shown to contribute to paranoia. 

This eight week therapy is assisted by an app downloaded onto a mobile phone. Therapists work with the person to identify their worries, and then help them find ways to slow down and take a moment when they notice their worries. If people can use the app to slow down and take another look at the situation, they can often realise that things aren’t as bad as they first feared or find other ways to manage their worries.

The results indicated that the treatment was effective, in part, by helping people to slow down their thinking and worry less. SlowMo’s clinically worthwhile results, extremely high satisfaction from people receiving the therapy, strong therapy fidelity and innovative technology means it is suitable for rolling out in the NHS. It will be used in our new SlowMo Clinic to optimise and implement SlowMo so more people can benefit from this new therapy in the NHS.

Thanks to Angie Culham who took part in SlowMo and is working with Kathy Greenwood to help share the promising feedback.  

Read more in the Worthing Herald