Stephen Zingwe: working in mental health research
Stephen Zingwe is the Research and Development (R&D) Manager at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which provides community and mental health services.
What does your day-to-day job involve?
“It includes day-to-day management of our research and development, staff recruitment, staff appraisals and staff development, supporting the delivery of the trust’s strategy, promoting and facilitating the delivery of high quality research activity in line with Department of Health and Social Care policy. I support my team to raise the profile of research across the trust and represent the trust in internal and external operational meetings where we learn from others and share good practice.”
How long have you been working in research for and how did you first get involved?
“I’ve been working in research for 10 years now. My background is in mental health nursing. A few years ago whilst practising as a nurse I encountered a few challenges within the ward regarding inconsistencies in looking after people experiencing psychosis. This prompted me to look into the journals to find research that was done in terms of looking after people with psychosis. I fell in love with some of the findings of research and from there onwards I looked into jobs that involved recruiting participants into research.”
What research is currently taking place in Berkshire Healthcare?
“We’ve got a study on psychosis which looks at how people respond to hearing voices compared with how they respond to other people. We’ve also got an autism study, which attempts to find out how long it takes a GP to diagnose a child with autism spectrum disorder and calculate how much it costs the NHS. We’re studying a mobile phone app to see if it is effective at reducing paranoia severity over 24 weeks. Another study that recruited more participants was one that looked at how doctors adapt their interactions with mental health service users from diverse cultural backgrounds. The aim is to see if any training is required to improve such interactions. That’s a summary of the studies we have, but we have other studies recruiting participants with diabetes, breathing problems, and stroke and from community services.”
How do you think research in Berkshire could be improved?
“We should make research every employee’s business so that patients can be given a chance to take part in research relevant to them. In addition we should encourage home growing of studies so that findings are relevant to the population using the trust’s services. For instance, in Slough and Reading there’s a lot of Asian and black communities and we have experienced some challenges in engaging black and Asian communities to take part in research. The local researchers can address these by involving such communities at research design stages. At the end of the day, these communities use the NHS’s services, so I think it’s important that diversity is taken into consideration. I think promoting equality and addressing health inequality are at the heart of the NHS’s values, therefore local researchers should consider the population served by the trust and embrace diversity in research.”
What are health inequalities?
“From my perspective, it is that there are different social classes within communities and there is unequal distribution of health by social class, gender and ethnicity. People with low incomes, there is evidence that they would not receive the same access to healthcare that higher social classes do. I think that if researchers overlook the diversity of the population served by the NHS at research design stages then there are not helping to reduce health inequalities.”
What would you say to Berkshire residents about taking part in research?
“Research improves lives. It improves the diagnosis and treatment of individuals. The NHS is spreading its wings and doing their best for people from all cultural backgrounds to have the opportunity to take part in health research. I would say get involved in research; this will help improve the quality of care the NHS gives. The evidence is that patient involvement in research informs practice and the research is only relevant if it is conducted involving people receiving care. Ask your doctor or nurse what research means and what research is taking place.”
What are your hopes for the future of NHS research?
“I want to see research become a key performance indicator of the NHS. That way, it might make it easier to reach out to clinicians who are difficult to engage in the research agenda. Some clinicians still see research as an add-on; they don’t see it as core NHS business. Research needs to be given more attention as there is no doubt that it improves the quality of care given. I would also like to see a research culture embedded within health services, where every patient is offered the chance to take part.”
For Berkshire Healthcare studies seeking volunteers call 0118 3785700 or email research@berkshire.nhs.uk.
