The Sussex Psychosis Research Interest Group (SPRiG) incorporates clinical and academic researchers within the University of Sussex, Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Current research includes the contribution of genetics, neuroimaging, psychological processes, health and social contexts to psychosis and well-being outcomes; the development of new psychological therapies, including third wave CBT and computer-based therapies; understanding and addressing children’s and adolescents’ attitudes to psychosis, to promote positive non-stigmatising schema; and earlier engagement in help seeking.
We host SPRiG seminars throughout the year online. These seminars are always on the last Wednesday of the month at 4pm-5pm.
Next seminar
Wednesday 28 October 4pm-5pm
Speaker: Miriam Hiersch, Doctoral Candidate, University of Sussex
Title: The Practitioner Matters: Development and Validation of a New Scale to Measure the Interpersonal Skills and Qualities of Psychological Practitioners.
Therapist factors, including interpersonal skills and qualities such as empathy, partly explain the effectiveness of psychological treatments and are crucial for psychosis treatment. However, little is known about which practitioner qualities are most important when working with people experiencing psychosis, or how these qualities can be reliably measured. This seminar will present preliminary findings from a study that developed and evaluated a new observer-rated scale to assess the interpersonal skills and qualities of psychological practitioners. The scale focuses particularly on “briefly trained” psychological practitioners, such as Assistant Psychologists and Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners, who typically have less training and clinical experience than qualified therapists and psychologists. In this seminar, we will discuss how practitioner qualities, including empathy, warmth, responsiveness and confidence, relate to trust, and whether these qualities influence clinicians’ likelihood of referring patients to psychological practitioners.