Close
In the Community Navigator study, we have used a coproduction approach. This means that researchers are working in collaboration with people who are involved with mental health services in the planning and delivery of the study.
To facilitate coproduction, a study working group of has been
formed including people with lived experience of mental health problems, people
who work in services, and mental health researchers, with some people offering
expertise from more than one of these groups. The unique
expertise offered by each group is being brought together to shape the Community Navigator Study as a whole. We hope that this will enable us to create a
programme of support that is both appropriate and useful for people with persistent
anxiety and depression.
The working group will meet around ten times over the two year duration of the study. Involvement initially concentrated on developing the content and delivery of the Community Navigator support programme. You can read about the working group meetings in our blogs. As the study proceeds, the working group will be involved in determining trial outcomes and procedures, refinement of the support programme, qualitative interview analysis and publicising findings from the study. In a blog written for The McPin Foundation, two members of our working group describe how involving experts by experience in the recruitment of Community Navigators will hopefully add value and contribute to the success of this research study.
The McPin Foundation, an organisation specialising in user-focused mental health research, is one of the study partners advising on the coproduction approach. For the approach to be successful, it is essential that practitioners, experts by experience and researchers are engaged in a meaningful way, so that all voices are heard equally and are able to influence the study. To help achieve this, the above principles will guide the running of the working group.
Here, a member of our working group describes their experience of the group so far:
