Welcome to this edition of the Bridge which is focussing on Occupation and Boredom and has been edited by Hilary Williams who is a co-lead of the Occupation mental health and boredom research programme for RCOMH.

Genevieve Smyth, Professional Affairs Officer for Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, College of Occupational Therapists, comments on the research implications of the recently published mental health strategy for England.

Read Genevieve's comments» 

The recently published report by the British Medical Association recommends a therapeutic healthcare environment and a range of activities are important factors in supporting the psychological and social needs of patients. It notes that much of the evidence so far in attending to peoples psychological and social needs has developed in the fields of mental health and paediatric care and that service provision should extend beyond the elimination of boredom and form part of holistic practice.   The research that RCOMH coordinates through this programme may provide additional evidence in this field in the future.

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“Interested in networking with mental health PhD Students?

‘My name is Mary Birken and I am a second year PhD student in Health Services Research at Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College. London. My study is focusing on developing and piloting an intervention for people with psychosis, to improve occupational performance following discharge from hospital. I would like to meet up with other PhD students/ researchers carrying out occupationally focused research with people with psychosis/ mental health. The aim would be to learn about other research going on in this area, and to share knowledge and information. If anyone is interested, please email me on Mary.birken@kcl.ac.uk ‘

The popularity of boredom

The initial analysis of the scoping study to map research activity related to occupation and mental health (SIPPS project) has identified 133 people interested in being involved in RCOMH’s research programmes; their interest is spread across the programmes. However when asked which other research programmes they are interested in the most frequently selected programme was the occupation, mental health and boredom programme. This suggests that boredom is an issue which crosses the other research programmes. For this reason boredom has been chosen as the topic that will be used to develop RCOMH’s first international multi-centre research study - watch this space for more information!    

The SIPPS TEAM

See you in Philadelphia?

Two members of the RCOMH Steering group, Hilary Williams and Dr Wendy Bryant, will be attending the American Occupational Therapy Association 2011 Annual Conference & Expo in Philadelphia 14-17th April and would be keen to meet up with occupational therapists working mental health internationally.  Do look out for them if you are attending.  They will be wearing the following badges…

The Spotlight on Research in this issue of The Bridge considers an article which examines Boredom in the recovery journey of adult substance users with HIV/AIDS who attend a Day Treatment Program. It builds on the researcher’s previous work in the field of boredom and substance use, along with providing useful implications and challenges for the occupational therapy profession.

Detailed review of this article »

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