Improving access to and quality of care for South Asians who experience psychosis and their families

Background: Schizophrenia, and psychoses, are major mental health conditions that can have a disastrous effect on individual ability to form and maintain relationships, work, study or live an independent life.

Psychosocial interventions, including cognitive behavioural therapy and family interventions, are evidence-based, NICE-recommended treatments that improve symptoms and functioning, reduce relapse and improve family coping.

Despite demonstrable benefits, referrals, uptake, and retention rates are low; underutilisation among South Asian (SA) ethnic minorities is particularly pronounced.

Engaging with communities strengthens research, facilitates successful recruitment processes, fosters participant-researcher trust and generates shared understanding of community priorities for culturally informed research.

Aim: We to develop strong community intersectoral partnerships, develop knowledge of the barriers and facilitators to access and engagement with psychosocial interventions, preferences and priorities for delivery and identify potential mechanisms determining intervention acceptability and effect.

Methods: Phase 1: We will undertake community awareness meetings comprising interactive, collaborative, face-to-face engagement events to awareness of schizophrenia research in SA populations.

A lived experience advisory group will be appointed to co-develop study processes and materials for empirical work and tailor materials to population needs.

We will undertake a systematic review to determine intervention, population and study design features that impact intervention adoption, reach and effect at individual and organisational level from multiple stakeholder perspectives.

Phase 2: We will elicit stakeholder views, preferences, and priorities for psychosocial interventions generating content and organisation related constraints and facilitators to access, uptake, and engagement.

Deliverables: (to inform a future effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, three-arm RCT) Knowledge to inform co-adaptation of evidence-based interventions, training resources and intervention delivery and supervision protocols Knowledge of barriers and facilitators to implementation of these interventions to support co-development of implementation strategies targeted at individual and organisational level Intersectoral community networks and professional collaborative relationships to enable successful project management and delivery Lived experience advisory to provide co-leadership for future research programme Research Team: Our multi-disciplinary team comprises individuals with methodological and clinical expertise and lived experience.

PPI Involvement: We have PPI representatives as named co-applicants, service-user researchers, and advisory panel members. Research training and mentorship will be provided.