Research Assistant

About us:

This is a fantastic opportunity for a Research Assistant Psychologist for a Wellcome funded study, SloMo2. SloMo is a digitally supported, cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis that improves fear of harm from others (or paranoia). The SloMo2 study is investigating if SloMo therapy can be delivered by real world clinicians, by conducting a clinical investigation of its implementation, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness in three NHS Trusts.

About the role:

The postholder will be responsible for working in accordance with the National Institute of Health Research principles of Good Clinical Practice. Tasks include liaison with multidisciplinary teams and therapists; study promotion; eliciting and managing referrals; overseeing participant recruitment and informed consent procedures; data collection of quantitative (i.e. implementation, clinical, service use, technical and safety) and qualitative (i.e. service user experience of therapy) outcomes; technical support. The postholder will have weekly group supervision with the Research Assistant Psychologists from other sites, regular line management supervision, and regular opportunities for reflection and learning with Lived Experience Researchers across sites.

SloMo aims to improve access, experience, and outcomes of psychological therapy for psychosis. The software has been inclusively designed with people with lived experience of paranoia in psychosis. SloMo consists of 11 modules with a therapist supported by an online therapy platform, and a personalised mobile app to assist management of fears in daily life. It works by targeting fast thinking habits and encouraging slow thinking, supporting people to find ways of feeling safer and living well. In our large, multi-centre RCT, SloMo was found to be efficacious, and highly engaging and deliverable, with improvements demonstrated in paranoia, worry, self-concept, quality of life and wellbeing, which were sustained over 6 months (Garety et al, 2021; Greenwood et al, 2021; Hardy et al, 2022; Ward et al, 2021). 

The post holder will be based at the IoPPN, Denmark Hill, London. However, the work will be undertaken across participating teams, including early intervention, community mental health and inpatient services, with home visits. It will predominantly occur within the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with potential for travel to other local participating NHS Trusts.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30/09/2026.

About you:

Essential criteria

• Degree (2:1 or higher) in Psychology
• Excellent IT skills including Word, Excel, and data management systems, with the ability to support software installation and onboarding, and troubleshoot technical problems, for people experiencing digital exclusion
• Excellent organisational skills, including planning, problem solving, and attention to detail
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including ability to engage patients, carers, local communities, clinicians, and researchers
• Understanding of NIHR Good Clinical Practice, including informed consent and confidentiality, and data protection.
• Experience of managing complex data, including maintaining high standards in data input, cleaning, summarising and reporting
• Experience of working with people with complex mental health needs and demonstrable understanding of needs
• Demonstrable commitment to supporting equality, diversity, and inclusion, including anti-racist practice

Desirable criteria

• Experience of delivering psychologically-informed interventions
• Experience of media content creation
• Experience of software development and providing technical support

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