Research Assistant, Quest

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Postholder will have a vital role in the delivery of a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded project: The clinical & cost effectiveness of quetiapine for people with borderline personality disorder: A pragmatic, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial [QUEST].
In this exciting role, the post holder will travel to mental health clinics throughout Merseyside & Lancashire to discuss the QUEST trial with community mental health service users & recruit patients with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Postholder will collect data for the project in clinics or participant homes, involving the Zanarini Rating Scale for Borderline Personality Disorder (ZAN-BPD), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V Personality Disorders (SCID-5-PD) and a range of other measures. Full training will be provided.
Postholder will work collaboratively and be supported by the study Chief Investigator & QUEST study team, R&D staff & clinical services to assist with the successful delivery of the study & achievement of local and national targets in relation to research performance., Maintaining good working relationships with service users, carers, clinic staff & other stakeholders will be key to the success of the project. Successful candidate should be organised, capable of independent work, with strong interpersonal skills & a good awareness of MH difficulties. Postholder will be based in the R&D department, working alongside a vibrant research team.
1. To assist in the set-up and facilitation of the research project.
2. To maintain and manage an external database of quantitative data anonymise data, input data into the database and keep it up to date.
3. To approach potential research participants using a variety of communication formats, in order to engage them in the research study.
4. To carry out any relevant psychometric test materials and structured/ semi-structured interviews whilst ensuring the safety and comfort of participants and yourself.
5. Where indicated, to follow-up research participants at agreed intervals.
6. To be aware of the psychological/ emotional needs of research participants, responding and reporting appropriately.
7. To ensure that research procedures (including consent processes and follow up) are carried out according to the approved protocol and the UK policy framework for health and social care research.
8. To conduct reviews of electronic patient clinical notes, extracting and coding data for research purposes.
9. To score relevant tests make data anonymous and enter data into the study database.
10. To ensure safe storage of paper data.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email [email protected] to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.
We reserve the right to close any vacancy earlier than advertised in exceptional circumstances once we have received a high volume of applications.
The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £13 per year and maintain registration. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team or email [email protected]) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form. The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.
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