Research Assistant, Quest | Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Postholder will have a vital role in the delivery of aNational 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. Toassistintheset-upandfacilitationoftheresearchproject.
2. Tomaintainandmanageanexternaldatabaseofquantitativedataanonymise data,inputdataintothedatabaseandkeepituptodate.
3. Toapproachpotentialresearchparticipantsusingavarietyofcommunicationformats,inordertoengagethemintheresearchstudy.
4. Tocarryoutanyrelevantpsychometrictestmaterialsandstructured/ semi-structuredinterviewswhilstensuring thesafetyandcomfortofparticipantsandyourself.
5. Whereindicated,tofollow-upresearchparticipantsatagreedintervals.
6. Tobeawareofthepsychological/ emotional needsofresearchparticipants,responding andreporting appropriately.
7. Toensurethatresearchprocedures(includingconsentprocessesandfollowup)arecarriedoutaccording totheapprovedprotocolandtheUKpolicyframeworkforhealthandsocialcareresearch.
8. Toconductreviewsofelectronicpatientclinical notes,extracting andcoding dataforresearchpurposes.
9. Toscorerelevanttestsmakedataanonymous andenterdataintothestudydatabase.
10. Toensuresafestorageofpaperdata.

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.