University of Sheffield research improves the life of mental health service users

17th October 2016

The University of Sheffield is making a difference to the lives of mental health service users with an innovative new self-assessment measure which will help them in their recovery.

Recovering Quality of Life (ReQoL) was launched by Paul Blomfield MP at an event at Westminster today (12 October 2016) and attended by representatives from many mental health trusts across the country and various stakeholders. ReQoL is a Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) that has been developed by a team at the University's School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) to assess the quality of life for those experiencing mental health difficulties. The questionnaire will be used in helping to decide what support or services people receive and also to measure and improve the quality of care that service users receive. Researchers from ScHARR worked together with service users and clinicians to generate the themes, items and scoring of the measure. Professor John Brazier from ScHARR who led the team, said: -The ReQoL-10 and the ReQoL-20 are short measures of self-assessment of quality of life that have been developed rigorously to meet the need for people recovering from a wide variety of mental health problems. ReQoL provides a unique opportunity to take a holistic view of the lives of service users and hence they can be better supported in their recovery journey. ReQoL has been commissioned and funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme in England for use in the NHS. The University of Sheffield has worked with the specialist Clinical Outcomes team at Oxford University Innovation Ltd to make ReQoL available. It is free to all publicly funded health services. Paul Blomfield MP said: -Mental health was one of the most commonly raised concerns in my annual community consultation. When one in four people face a mental health condition, cutting-edge research to improve outcomes are vitally important. The University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) are making a significant contribution to better mental health through their new Recovering Quality of Life measure. I'm delighted to host the launch of this initiative in Parliament.