Dr Fiona Ashworth Dr Poul Rohleder Dr Jane Aspell

Outline  Background to the Project  Aims of the Project  Pilot teaching  Evaluation of Project teaching  Conclusions  The Future of the Project

Background  Key changes in national policies & provision of healthcare focus on partnership working by increasing involvement of those with mental health problems  This must also be underpinned by inclusive mental health education  This can be extended to other physical health conditions as well

Background  higher education settings provide knowledge & understanding of mental ill health and long term conditions  Students may go on to train & work with people with mental ill health and long term conditions  A true understand of the effect of mental and physical health conditions is essential  Our goal in teaching is to enable students to learn to the best of their ability in an inclusive & varied way

Background  Individuals with mental ill health and long term conditions are becoming much more involved in education and teaching  University psychology departments are a target for such education  Service User Groups or Lived Experience Groups (LEG) for supporting education on the experience of mental ill health and long term conditions

Background  Impact of such teaching conclude that involving individuals with lived experience in teaching and education significantly enhances the learning experience for the students  Integrating lived experience into teaching is not new to ARU – service user group  But it is new to the Department of Psychology

Aims of the current project  To set up lived experience (LE) in teaching in the Department of Psychology with support of L & T Award Grant  To evaluate this project, in terms of student satisfaction  If successful to integrate this into teaching in the future  To evolve into other areas which will improve the student experience e.g. research

Project Set Up  Project organizers discussed process for recruiting LE speakers  LE speakers invited via word of mouth and from various organisations locally including  Mind  Oliver Zangwill Centre  The Sun Network  Adhdaptability

Project Set Up  Meeting and discussion with potential LE speakers about content and expectations  Sessions for LE talk agreed and set up with lecturers  The lived experience teaching focuses on clinical modules where students learn about specific conditions, their presentation, treatment and their impact  Aimed at both UG and PG courses

Lived Experience in Teaching  Second Year UG Learning, Memory & Perception Module  Lady spoke about living with Prosopagnosia (inability to recognise faces) following brain injury  Third Year UG Clinical Psychology Module  Gentleman spoke about developing schizophrenia, the symptoms, treatment and management  Young lady spoke about attempted suicide and depression  Third Year UG Health Psychology Module  Gentleman spoke about his experience of living well with AIDS for 20 years

Lived Experience in Teaching  Masters in Child Clinical Psychology  Gentleman came and spoke about going through the process of diagnosis of ADHD as an adult (although he had it in childhood it was misdiagnosed)  Woman came to speak about growing up with ADHD as a child, the symptoms and impact

Lived Experience in Teaching: Evaluation  Students asked to complete an evaluation form at the end of the LE speaker’s talk  Questions were as follows….  Satisfaction  Learning  Improvements  Liked least

Evaluation: Prosopagnosia Neither 2%

Evaluation: Prosopagnosia Student written comments “Gives a real life view on the theory that we learn so it makes it easier to be able to apply our knowledge to real events” “It's better than just learning the theory behind something. It helps to remember. It has never been so quiet during a lecture before, everyone was listening to the lady talk, you could hear the pin drop” “It gave more meaning to the illness, I felt like it became more clear.” “Becomes a lot more "real", not just slides with information from text books and studies. Gives a better insight into prosopagnosia” “It brought the reality of the disorder to life. You suddenly realise how real it is. A very humbling experience.”

Evaluation: Schizophrenia

Student written comments “The person who was talking was really good at answering all our questions. He provided a brilliant insight into his illness and recovery.” “Insight into how it affects people differently. Symptoms and struggles in recovery. Real life problems with diagnosis.” “Having a first hand experience insight allows more understanding into the development, treatment and even areas that need to be researched, which helps with overall understanding.” “It helps me to relate to the things we learn in lectures to something real life. So it will help my knowledge + make things easier to understand + remember” “It was interesting to hear what hallucinations are like first hand, rather than reading about it in a text book”

Evaluation: Depression

Student written comments “It puts the things you learn into context and makes them more interesting and easier to remember” “Makes the disorder seem more "real" hearing from someone. Reading about it you don't get the same understanding of how it affects people.” “Helps you understand depression. Very interesting to think about. The interview technique was really good” “Hearing the therapies that we study being implemented in practice and being successful” “Their insight makes theory seem less like a whole semantic construct”

Evaluation: HIV/AIDS

Student written comments “More relatable to a lecture slide of more informative/detailed and enjoyable to learn this way” “He managed to relate it to the information from the lecture so the information became more real rather than just facts and figures.” “I now understand HIV and AIDS much more. It was interesting to hear about it from a personal viewpoint rather than through the media” “Adds relevant information and experience to theories and info that we're taught” “Amazing insight and extra information you wouldn't learn normally”

Evaluation: Growing up with ADHD

Student written comments “Learning effective ways to manage particular disorder, new perspectives on disorder - rather than just text book. Her information was academic too and applicable to exams coursework research etc” “Her interpretation of experiences that cannot be learnt through a text-book” “To be able to learn about the disorder from someone else's perspectives makes it more interesting and adds on to the theories.” “I really like first person perspective. It provides more details, a personal side to the disorder” “It’s good to see how theoretical knowledge can be applied in real life. Makes theory easier to understand”

Evaluation: Feedback from LE Speakers Some Reflections from the Lived Experience Speakers “I found it cathartic” “I’m pleased to be able to help others to learn about mental health” “These students in the future may be able to find new ways of helping people with prosopagnosia, if by talking to them about it I can help then at least I can do something” “I feel like I am giving back as I have had a lot of help to recover and it feels like I am putting something back in” “It’s good to be able to help people see that these experiences can happen to anyone, and to help them realize the negative impact of stigma” “They [the students] asked such good questions, it really felt like they were learning and appreciated me being there telling them about my experiences, I felt valued” “I would definitely like to do it again”

Areas for Improvement  Overall students wanted more lived experience speakers  Students consistently requested more time for the speakers and for questions  One student said she wished she had known more detail in advance as she had personal experience  Some students wanted to know in advance in order to prepare questions – (prosopagnosia talk only)  Variety of talks, students requested talks on different topics/disorders/experiences from lived experience speakers

Conclusions  Overall students were highly satisfied with the Lived Experience in Teaching  Overall students felt that their learning was improved by having LE sessions  Some students were inspired by the LE speakers  Many students felt that the LE added an additional richness to understanding the psychology of mental and physical health difficulties  The project seemed to add positively overall to the students’ learning experience

The Future of the Project  The project was a success and will therefore continue within the psychology department  Hope to build in more LE talks where appropriate as there are other modules that it could be incorporated into  Make improvements based on student feedback

The Future Evolution of the Project We hope that the project will evolve and expand to include:  Consultation from LEP members for research  More involvement in teaching from LEP members  Possibly develop opportunities to build awareness of mental and physical health difficulties from a psychological perspective  Have LEP members with more autonomy and key roles in the project  Other areas?

Possible design for the front of our LEP leaflet

Special thanks to: Our inspiring LEP speakers the Learning and Teaching Award grant Stephanie at the University of Exeter Giovanna and Anna for help with leaflet and logo design development To you for listening Any questions?