Our Academic Institute shares its third Research Bulletin of 2024 to highlight research activity here in St Patrick’s Mental Health Services.
Since it launched in 2022, our Academic Institute has been working to promote research activity and strengthen the research culture here in SPMHS. Its work will be central in exploring and identifying ways to improve and deliver evidence-based mental health treatment and practice.
The Academic Institute publishes a Research Bulletin for each quarter of the year to share news and developments from research across SPMHS, and you can see highlights of the Autumn 2024 edition below.
Partnerships
At SPMHS, one of the key objectives of our Research Strategy 2023-2027 is to develop research partnerships with colleagues in other organisations who hold the same values and commitment to engaging in high quality and impactful mental health research.
We have established strong academic links with partners in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the School of Medicine at TCD, and the School of Psychology in University College Dublin (UCD).
We are very pleased to report on another successful collaboration between our Pharmacy Department, led by Ciara Ní Dhubhlaing and Ita Fitzgerald, and the School of Pharmacy in University College Cork (UCC). Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding in recent months, our two organisations will now be coming together over the next five years to further research and clinical training in mental health pharmacy.
Research publications and presentations
The Autumn 2024 edition of our Research Bulletin highlights a selection of research by members of staff here in SPMHS which was published in recent months.
Recent research publications cover topics such as:
- What service users with psychosis want from psychological interventions
- The development of guidance for antipsychotic-induced weight gain management
- Compassion-Focused Therapy and eating disorders
- Occupational stress in staff in an acute paediatric teaching hospital in Ireland.
You can see these and other research publications here on our website.
Dr Aoife Durcan, Senior Counselling Psychologist with our Psychology Department, also delivered a workshop on Schema Therapy at an International Schema Conference in Warsaw, Poland earlier in the summer.
Researcher spotlight
Dr Gavin Rush is a Consultant Psychiatrist here in SPMHS, and shares insights from his research career in this edition of the Research Bulletin.
Can you tell us about your research career to date?
My research career began in SPMHS. Initially, I explored the subjective experiences of our patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a procedure and their experience of the consenting process. At the time, concerns had been raised internationally about the appropriateness of providing ECT to patients and the lack of informed consent being provided prior to treatment. Our research contradicted these claims, and showed that ECT was received positively by patients, who overwhelmingly wanted ECT availability in the future and had strong satisfaction with the consenting procedures they had experienced.
Other projects I published included the experience of violence at work in a national cohort of psychiatric trainees. I also published on the implementation of a smoking ban in the Central Mental Hospital, which showed reported incidences (of ward aggression and so on) reduced after the ban, in contradiction with concerns prior to its implementation.
As a consultant, it can be tricky to find time for research, but I have managed at times to continue to integrate research and clinical practice despite challenges. I have also supported a psychology student to obtain her Master’s degree through research on the Recovery Programme in SPMHS.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently supervising the submission of a research project which explored the Depression Recovery Programme at SPMHS. I am also supervising a study exploring the subjective experience of receiving a diagnosis of personality disorder with Dr Sorcha McManus.
As Chair of the Irish College of Psychiatrists’ Personality Disorder Special Interest Group (PDSIG), I am supervising a national study exploring availability of personality disorder services nationwide. Alongside this, I am supervising a study exploring international best practice for the provision of personality disorder services.
What do you see as a priority for mental health research over the next five years?
A priority would be the provision of already existing, evidenced-based services to patients. Many evidenced-based practices are unavailable. Barriers to implementation should be explored and tackled. Patient advocacy, awareness and involvement in research would assist this process.
Another priority for me would be enhancing the patient voice in research, such as my ongoing study exploring subjective experiences to diagnosis, to enhance and build on good practices available in SPMHS.
Do you have any tips for SPMHS staff wishing to engage in research projects?
Find a good supervisor. Be clear on the study design and ensure it is achievable. If participating in group research, ensure your role is clear and you have a clear outcome. Otherwise, you can do a lot of work with little to show for it.
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You can find more of Dr Rush’s published work through the list of research publications here on our website, and through PubMed.
