Reflections on the OxTV ARC Showcase from the ATTUNE team

On Monday 4th November 2024, we were invited to present our research project, ATTUNE, at the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley (ARC OxTV)Showcase event. The day started with an introduction by Director Professor Richard Hobbs discussing the purpose to showcase research supported and conducted by the NIHR ARC OxTV in the region.

This was followed by a keynote talk by Chief Executive Officer, Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley, Professor Gary Ford, focussing on his novel and important scientific research but also on how our research can make a difference within a ‘broken’ NHS. Gary helpfully highlighted four ways how healthcare researchers can provide solutions:

1. Obtain a better understanding of the needs of the NHS
2. Agree a set of research and innovation priorities with commissioners and providers
3.  Communicate a compelling narrative…. not just about your project
4. Think about implementation early

This advice provided guidance to those of us currently in the middle of conducting research on what to think of and do in terms of disseminating our research to those both locally and nationally. These resonated with the aims of the ATTUNE project – as part of the six work packages within Attune, one work package is dedicated to knowledge and impact pathway, at the very beginning of our project, a stakeholder mapping exercise was completed to identify who our stakeholders were and where they are based. Since we started in September 2021, this stakeholder mapping exercise has continually been reviewed by the project team to ensure we are actively seeking out key stakeholders to engage with.

Gary’s talk further highlighted the role of ensuring that research is disseminated in a range of methods in additional to peer-reviewed journal articles.

The first session was chaired by Dr Katherine Keats-Rohan, which focused on the role of patient and public champions in research. Dr Rohan and colleagues called for researchers to work with lived experience researchers right from the conception of the research project. This talk built on the guidance Gary provided in his earlier session.

This particular work resonated with our experience of working with young people between the ages of 10 and 24. We have found that it has been critical to the success of the project to include young people at all stages, from designing participant facing documents, to choosing which questionnaires are appropriate and to disseminating the information at live conferences.

Within this action-packed session, there were talks from a range of individual researchers who are actively working with those with lived experience in a clear and genuine manner. This session enthused us and made us aware of the fantastic research that is being conducted in the region for a range of individuals with a range of health needs. For those working in one field, it was a chance to hear about other research involving adults that is occurring within the ARC and the region.

The final session prior to lunch, chaired by Professor Cathy Cresswell, was the one that we were presenting in, and it was focused on helping all children and young people achieve the best start in life.

There was a key theme within this and prior  talks, they all highlighted the importance of a safe childhood:

• Emily Smout and colleagues talked about their research within Oxfordshire on safeguarding
• Professor Apostolos Tsiachristas and colleagues talked about crucial work that they have conducted on evaluating Oxfordshire’s Family Solution Plus safeguarding programme.
• Dr Chloe Chessell and Katie Jones discussed their research into a novel online support and intervention for child anxiety problems, which has been rolled out in Oxfordshire and is soon to be implemented in other countries globally; this work is led by Professor Cathy Cresswell.

There was also an insightful discussion into how we define what adverse childhood experiences are. Findings from the ATTUNE project indicate that young people’s descriptions of adversities are greater than those individually; some of the young people on ATTUNE described adversities as (but not limited to): foster care/adoption, family breakup, bereavement, teen pregnancy, alienation, bullying, being a young carer and racism.

Overall, the day highlighted the novel, innovative and mixed research methods that are being conducted within the NIHR at OxTV’s ARC. It encouraged those of us involved in research projects to keep up our efforts while also deepening engagement with local communities to build strong partnerships and improve knowledge sharing.

It was a privilege to be invited to present and have the opportunity to learn about the important work taking place.

A huge thank you to the members of the OxTV team for an incredible day.

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Dr Isabelle Butcher: Isabelle.butcher@psych.ox.ac.uk

Harsimran Sansoy: Harsimran.sansoy@psych.ox.ac.uk