COMMUNITY OF INTEREST
We are building a community of interest of people who have experienced hospitalisation, or who are interested in improving care for parents who are hospitalised and their families.
What is a Community of Interest?
A community of interest is a of group people who all share a particular concern or interest. We are bringing together people with a shared focus on parental mental health and, more specifically, the experience of parents who are hopsitalised for their mental health and the impact it has on their families.
Being part of our community of interest means that you will receive our newsletter three times a year and updates on how the research is progressing. You will also hear about opportunities to be involved in our research in others way, such as joining our Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) or being a research participant. You can choose to opt out of these communications at any time.
To join to our community of interest, complete this short sign-up form, we will stay in touch via email:
What is a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP)?
A Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) is a group of people who use their lived experience to offer feedback on research for the duration of a study. Having lived experience input at all stages of the research process ensures that the project reflects the needs, ambitions and experiences of those it is seeking to understand and support. People who join a LEAP must have their own lived experience of the area of research, either through personal experience or experience of caring for a family member. You don’t need to have any specific qualifications to join, as it is your lived experience that counts.
Who are we hoping will join our LEAP?
We are looking for people with lived experience of parental mental health inpatient treatment to join our LEAP. We know that lived experience is not a ‘one size fits all’, so here are some examples of different types of experiences:
- Having personal experience of being hospitalised for your mental health whilst being a parent
- Being the child of a parent who has been hospitalised for their mental health
- Being the carer of a child whose parent has been hospitalised for their mental health
Your lived experience doesn’t need to be current to join the LEAP – we just ask that you are able to remember well enough to reflect on your past experiences.
What does joining our LEAP involve?
The LEAP will meet online every three months for the duration of the research, but there is no expectation that you attend all the meetings – we understand that lives are busy and other commitments come up.
Below are a few examples of the type of activities the LEAP might be involved in:
- Reviewing participant-facing documents to make sure they are accessible and free from jargon
- Offering feedback on where and how to recruit participants
- Helping to decide what questions it might be helpful to ask participants in interviews
- Additional optional research activities, such as data analysis
All LEAP members will be reimbursed for their time.
If you are interested in joining our LEAP, please get in touch or fill in the sign-up form above or send us and email (parentprojects@sussex.ac.uk), and one of our team will email you back.
What does being a research participant involve?
Being a research participant means that you take part in the research, by providing information or data. For example, you might take part in an interview where you are asked about your experiences, or you might complete a questionnaire. Your involvement as a participant is usually time-limited, rather than ongoing. Find out more about our current research project.
We are looking for participants
- Parents
- Children and young people
- Carers
- Healthcare professionals