What Matters to People who have experienced psychosis in Scotland?

We’re proud to share that the Psychosis Research Group has begun an important project that we hope will help shape the future of psychosis research in Scotland.

Psychosis is often studied from the “outside” by people who work in academic and health research and too often the voices and priorities of people living with psychosis are left out. This means research doesn’t always focus on the areas that matter most to those directly affected. We want to change that.

We have been funded by the Academic Returners’ Scheme to do a research partnership with people who have experienced psychosis to map out and identify their key research priority areas. We will then invite people from across Scotland who have experienced psychosis to rank these research topics. For the first time, this will create a list of Scottish psychosis research priority areas. This will ensure that future studies address the real challenges people face, helping us build more effective support and reduce health inequalities.

We recently held our very first meeting with our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) colleagues. This was a chance to come together, set out our shared goals, and begin exploring what matters most. Lived experience is always at the heart of this project – from designing the research, to analysing findings, to deciding how results are shared. The funding is crucial to offer reimbursement to lived experience colleagues for their time, and to offer access to taxis for people who may struggle on public transport.

We’re thrilled to take this first step with our PPI colleagues. We’ll continue to share updates as the work develops – and we look forward to shaping a research agenda that truly reflects the needs and experiences of people in Scotland.