About the Research & Development service

Why is a Research & Development service needed?

The main aim of Playfield Institute is to build the capacity of workers to promote the mental health of children and young people. Capacity building is not just about shared learning of skills, but also about reflection on practice and enquiry about effective ways of working. Therefore, the Institute also has research and development as one of its main strands of work and has an active research team with a public health focus.

What is the strategy of the Research & Development service?

The research and development strategy is to enhance research capacity in the field of children and young people’s mental health and to feed results directly into service development.

How do we do this?

We aim to do this by:

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building collaborative networks between social scientists, specialists and frontline workers
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initiating, supporting and conducting research to investigate the needs of Fife’s young people and their families
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investigating workers’ ongoing needs for training, information and support
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evaluating current service provision
• investigating the effectiveness of innovative methods of service provision
• providing initial advice, feedback and support to workers who wish to undertake research or audit relating to mental health and wellbeing
• reporting ongoing research findings to various multi-agency strategy groups
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providing a suitable environment for medical, nursing and social work students’ research and work experience placements.

 

 

The Research Lab is available for use by frontline workers. The Institute’s library is located within the Lab, along with two computers which have internet access and a printer. The statistics package SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is also available on the computers. There is comfortable seating and a work area for study. Tea and coffee are also available.

 

 

For more information about the Research & Development service please contact Wendy Simpson, Institute Head of Research and Development, on 01334 696015 or send an e-mail to w.simpson@nhs.net.