Quality and Effectiveness of Supported Tenancies (QuEST) WP4

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
While supported accommodation services play a very important role in assisting people with complex mental health problems to live in the community, there has been very little research to investigate how well they work. This is due in part to the logistic difficulties in researching this area. Randomly assigning people to different types of housing support may be resisted by clinicians who feel that people who use the service need a “staged process” where they move from accommodation providing a high level of support to one providing less support as their skills and confidence increase. Such support should also be tailored to a persons clear preferences for the particular services that they want. It also seems that the availability of supported housing stock is more influential than clinical need in determining who is allocated what type of accommodation. These clinical and housing constraints mean that we simply do not know whether or not individuals are following the most cost effective routes to independence. In short, we do not know whether more tailored support delivered to people living in their own homes ( i.e. through floating outreach) is more acceptable, more individualised and more cost-effective than a standard level of support provided in staffed facilities. This study aims to see whether a study testing two models of supported accommodation for people with mental health problems is possible. We will assess the feasibility, sample size and outcomes for a large scale study to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of two models of mental health supported accommodation that are commonly used across England; supported housing and floating outreach.

Who can participate?
Adults with mental health problems referred to supported accommodation.

What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly allocated to housing support though staffed facilities or though floating outreach support. They are then asked to agree to three interviews, once when they join the study, once 6 months into the study and once 12 months into the study, where they are asked questions about their activities, satisfaction with different aspects of their life and how they spend their time. Each interview takes no more than 30 minutes. Participants are also asked for permission to collect information from their case records and for a staff member to complete a questionnaire about their abilities, needs, substance use (if any), challenging behaviour (if any) and any specific difficulties they may have. This information is again collected at the start of the study, 6 months later and 12 months later.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
People taking part in the study are offered £20 in recognition of the time they have given to be involved in the study. Other than giving up some of their time to do the research interviews there are no disadvantages to taking part.

Where is the study run from?
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, East London NHS Foundation Trust and 2gether NHS Foundation Trust (UK)

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
June 2015 to September 2017

Who is funding the study?
National Institute for Health Research (UK)

Who is the main contact?
Ms Sarah Dowling

Contact information

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• United Kingdom
• England

Study participating centres

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Additional files

30845 QuEST WP4 protocol v.2 27Feb15.pdf

Protocol file

Editorial Notes

19/08/2022: Uploaded protocol (not peer-reviewed) as an additional file.
17/12/2020: Publication references added.