For Researchers: About Co-STARS

Background

Psychoses are among the most disabling illnesses worldwide and disproportionately affect minoritized ethnic groups and those in socioeconomic disadvantage. Within the UK, people from Black ethnic backgrounds are 3-5 times more likely to experience a first episode of psychosis (FEP), five times more likely to be detained, and are more likely to be subjected to the Mental Health Act than White British people. Factors contributing to these disparities are complex and influenced by wider inequities within and beyond health systems, including discrimination, cultural insensitivities, racism, stigma, and lack of recognition of the symptoms of mental illness within Black communities. There is a clear need for services to improve cultural awareness and understanding of the broader social needs of minoritized groups, as well as improve mental health literacy (MHL) within Black communities to empower individuals to seek timely mental health support.

What is Co-STARS?

Co-STARS is a co-produced, culturally appropriate, tiered MHL training package. It was co-developed during Phase 1 of the Co-STARS project with young people from Black African and Black Caribbean backgrounds with lived experience of mental ill health. It is led and delivered by Black young people to underserved communities in Birmingham.

The overarching aim of this study is to undertake a pilot evaluation assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of a tiered MHL package designed to promote equitable mental health care access and improved outcomes for Black youth in underserved communities.

What are we setting out to do?

  • Work Package 1

    Assess the feasibility and acceptability of the MHL intervention delivered to underserved communities and assess the barriers and enablers of the future implementation strategy/trial.

  • Work Package 2

    Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the e-learning for mental healthcare professionals to develop methodology to inform our implementation evaluation in a future trial.

  • Work Package 3

    Identify whether the MHL intervention is providing tangible impacts on a system-wide level by developing a systems map and piloting a data-driven impact evaluation.

  • Work Package 4

    Examine the cost-effectiveness and social return on investment of the MHL intervention, based upon the costs and health outcomes collected in Work Packages 1 and 2.

How will this be achieved?

  • To assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Co-STARS training package to underserved communities in Birmingham.

  • To evaluate the feasibility of an e-learning training package for mental health professionals.

  • Along with novel epidemiological analyses, participatory systems mapping will be used to explore downstream effects, for example improved access to care for Black ethno-racial groups within the intervention area.

  • Using the costs and health outcomes collected in Work Packages 1 & 2, and to examine the social return on investment of the mental health literacy intervention.