Postdoctoral Research Fellow - UOD2131

Faculty of Health, University of Dundee. The position is for 18.75 hours per week on a fixed term contract until 31 July 2028. The post holder will act as the researcher for the following study which is being funded by the Chief Scientist Office Scotland:

“Improving outcomes for people with problem substance use and poor mental health: Co-designing psychological treatment delivered inside

Virtual Reality nature”

The gap in treatment for poor mental health (MH) in people with problem substance use (PSU), including cannabis, cocaine and alcohol is substantial and disturbing. How can we deliver psychological treatment, which is key to reducing substance use and cravings, while at the same time, improve MH?

Integrating psychological treatment for PSU and MH could reduce substance use and cravings while at the same time, improve MH. Being in nature (real or virtual) helps people relax, de-stress and improve mood, but is currently under-used during treatment. Digital technology can improve access to treatment by removing barriers to traditional in-person treatment.

We aim to develop an intervention so that practitioners deliver psychological treatment inside Virtual Reality nature (VRn) to groups of people with PSU who can who access it at home anonymously (using an avatar) via the Internet using a head-mounted device.

In this project, we will:

• Run co-design workshops to adapt a subset of SMART Recovery's mutual aid, peer support psychological treatment so that its activities can be delivered inside VRn.
• Co-produce VRn to deliver the adapted psychological treatment and a Manual to go with it.
• Have practitioners and people with PSU test the adapted psychological treatment delivered inside VRn in order to find out if it is safe, feasible, accessible, acceptable and improves mood and reduces anxiety.

Key responsibilities:

The post holder will lead operational research activities, including:

• Organising project administration, such as research team meetings
• Recruiting and consenting participants
• Organising workshops and taking field-notes, audio recordings
• Administering questionnaires, conducting ‘think aloud’ interviews and semi-structured interviews
• Conducting thematic analysis of qualitative data and presenting descriptive statistics of quantitative data
• Writing reports and the intervention Manual

The position would involve travel within Scotland central belt.

Essential and desirable criteria:

• Peer researchers who have lived experience of problematic substance use and poor mental health will also be involved in these research activities. The digital healthcare intervention will be co-designed by people with lived experience of problematic substance use and health and social care practitioners. It is critical therefore that the post holder is comfortable with the study’s peer research and co-design methodological approach.
• The candidate will have completed or about to complete a PhD in a relevant subject, such as behavioural science, psychology, virtual reality healthcare digital technologies and hence, experience in conducting research to doctoral standard. Ideally, the candidate will have experience in developing and evaluating complex healthcare interventions.
• As the project involves working with people with lived experience of problematic substance use and poor mental health, and with practitioners and in drug and alcohol services, some experience of working in addiction is desirable but not essential if the post holder can demonstrate transferable experience (e.g. experience in the field of mental health).

For a discussion about this position, please contact Dr Gill Hubbard ghubbard001@dundee.ac.uk

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