Abstract
Background:The mental health and wellbeing practitioner (MHWP) role was introduced in 2022 as a key part of the plan for expanding psychological support in secondary mental healthcare. The low-intensity interventions they are trained in can facilitate change and improved wellbeing among service users -with equivalent low-intensity support working well with older people in NHS talking therapies. However, up to now, there has been a lack of evidence for the efficacy of MHWPs with older people in secondary care.Method:NHS Trusts have been encouraged to record the brief recovering quality of life questionnaire (ReQoL-10) at regular intervals. By accessing this data from Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust’s electronic patient record system, a pre-post evaluation indicated how scores change when older service users work with MHWPs. To complement this, MHWPs in both older adult and working age services were surveyed on which interventions were used.Results:When MHWPs worked with older service users, clinically significant improvement (of five points or more) was recorded in 48% of paired scores. The most commonly used interventions for older people were behavioural activation and self-soothing.Conclusion:This initial evaluation of MHWPs working with older people supports the use of low-intensity interventions in secondary care settings, but a larger follow-up evaluation is recommended.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call