New research to enhance the quality of psychological interventions delivered by telephone (EQUITy)

Posted on 23 April 2020

A new study into the delivery of psychological therapies by telephone within the NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service

Paul Drew and Dr Annie Irvine (Dept Language and Linguistic Science, University of York) are part of a consortium led by health researchers at the University of Manchester conducting a research programme aimed to enhance the uptake, quality and effectiveness of telephone-delivered psychological interventions for mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Prof. Drew and Dr Irvine’s role in the programme has been to study the conversations between Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) and patients, in order to identify those communicative practices over the telephone that might improve patient engagement with the service, retention in treatment and the clinical effectiveness of treatment.

Their work has already helped to shape a PWP training intervention being designed by the Manchester team, and they are now writing up a number of papers for publication. Earlier this year they led a systematic review of the evidence for the possible differences between telephone and face-to-face psychological therapy, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (see LLS News Item: Recent publications and current projects on medical interactions by Prof. Paul Drew).

“The timeliness of this research could not have been foreseen, and the need for psychological support will only increase as society at large responds and adjusts to a post-Covid world” - Dr Annie Irvine, Dept Language and Linguistic Science, University of York

Systematic reviews are highly regarded in health and medical research, as a means to synthesize the results of primary research in a given area, before embarking on further research on that topic. This new research paper has gone into orbit, been widely read on ResearchGate – ranking as one of the most read publications on ResearchGate (with an ‘interest’ score higher than 98% of all papers on RG), and is already being cited in (pre-)publications. This extraordinary level of interest is certainly a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, now that IAPT can no longer be delivered face-to-face while social distancing measures are enforced. Indeed, our systematic review has been cited in NHS guidance to practitioners on delivering psychological therapies remotely during the current crisis, and Annie and Paul have compiled a list of suggestions for personalising, as far as possible, the delivery of the NHS’s IAPT service by telephone.

The research plays a key role in exploring how telephone delivery of IAPT can be refined to personalise it, as far as possible, and thereby improve the programme’s effectiveness. The timeliness of this research could not have been foreseen, and the need for psychological support will only increase as society at large responds and adjusts to a post-Covid world.

For more information and to read the article: Journal of Affective Disorders, 265C, 120-131 (Open Access)