Rationale
Whilst the relationship between mental and physical health is well recognised, little research focuses on factors within this relationship, nor the potential influence of mental health difficulties on adherence and response to treatments. From 2022-23, over 1 million people participated in NIHR-funded studies more than 90% of which concerned physical health conditions; yet fewer than 2% collected mental health data.
Aim
The CMHDS aimed to address this by co-developing a mental health questionnaire which could be used in physical health studies.
Funding
This was funded by the NIHR through a Research for Patient Benefit Award and had ethical approval from the University of Manchester.
What did we do?
We worked with members of the public, experts in mental health data collection and members of ethics committees to create an agreement for how to collect mental health data safely and easily in all clinical trials. An online questionnaire was developed which collected data on mental health diagnoses, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and experiences of trauma. All of this data was captured anonymously and stored securely and safely. We then worked with two physical health studies to implement the CMHDS and collect mental health data alongside physical health data. One study was for people receiving specialist Cystic Fibrosis (CF) care, and the second study was the established Salford Kidney Study (SKS).
What did we find?
We were able to embed the CMHDS tool within physical health studies as part of data collection. Researchers and participants also appeared to consider the CMHDS an acceptable questionnaire. Future physical health studies should embed the CMHDS as part of their data collection and encourage completion by all participants.
Next steps…
The CMHDS was adapted further to make sure it was culturally sensitive in the way it collects mental health data. This was through focus groups with members of the public and experts in culturally sensitive mental health data collection.
The CMHDS is being taken forward in the MRC-funded DATAMIND project (https://datamind.org.uk/) which will help other researchers use the tool as part of their data collection.
The CMHDS is not currently live, as it is undergoing some minor updates to reflect the views of those involved in the focus groups.