CHCT funds ground-breaking research into remission and recovery
The CHCT is delighted to announce that it is funding new, ground-breaking research led by King’s College London. The project will look at the occurrence of remission and recovery among patients with personality disorder. These concepts are not easy to quantify but are fundamental to measuring the effectiveness of treatment and to the development of robust care pathways. This research aims to develop new algorithms using real life clinical data over longer periods of time. It will enable researchers to look for patterns and trends in a much wider sample than has been possible in previous smaller studies.
Two new algorithms
This proof-of-concept research project aims to develop two new algorithms to detect the occurrence of remission and recovery among patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder, using anonymised data from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
In the field of personality disorder research, the concepts of remission (defined as a reduction in symptoms, such as self-harm) and recovery (defined more in terms of daily functioning at home, at work and in relationships) are not easy to measure – but are fundamental to establishing treatment effectiveness and to defining robust care pathways for patients. Historically, remission and recovery have been investigated primarily through first-hand observations (such as interviews) of small, selected samples. This type of research can be not only labour, cost and time intensive, but also it is difficult to apply the findings beyond the group that is examined.
Anonymised electronic health records (EHRs) such as the Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS) offer a novel way to examine remission and recovery in this population by examining information that is entered in service users routine records. Therefore, EHRs are able to capture real life clinical information over long periods of time, therefore allowing researchers to look for patterns and trends in the data over time, in a faster way.
CRIS is one of Europe’s largest electronic health records databases and it provides authorised researchers with regulated access to anonymised information extracted from the Trust’s electronic clinical records system. CRIS was developed with extensive service user involvement and adheres to strict governance frameworks managed by service users, and has passed a robust ethics approval process. The data is used in an entirely anonymised and data-secure format and all service users have the choice to opt-out of their anonymised data being used for research purposes.
Publications from CRIS on personality disorder have already had an important impact on the field, with citations in key policy documents.
The study is led by Dr Giouliana Kadra-Scalzo and Dr Richard Hayes from King’s College London, in collaboration with Professor Paul Moran (University of Bristol) and Dr. Oliver Dale (West London NHS Trust).
We are very grateful to the Robert Luff Foundation for their generous donation to fund this important research.