The CALM Study

Co-production, refinement and evaluation of a model of psychosocial peer support and liaison with alcohol, liver and mental health services to improve quality of life and clinical outcomes for people with alcohol-related liver disease
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The CALM Study

Co-production, refinement and evaluation of a model of psychosocial peer support and liaison with alcohol, liver and mental health services to improve quality of life and clinical outcomes for people with alcohol-related liver disease

Aim

This study aim to develop and test a new model of care to help people with alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD), heavy alcohol use and mental health needs: the Care for Alcohol Liver and Mental health needs (CALM) model.

Background

Alcohol use is the most common cause of liver disease in the UK. It leads to over 27,000 UK hospital admissions and costs the NHS over £3.5 billion each year. Most people with ARLD suffer with alcohol addiction and have mental health needs. Liver, alcohol and mental health services work separately and can be difficult to access. People with ARLD find it hard to connect with and remain in health services due to stigma around alcohol and mental health, their complex social situation and poor access to the right services.
Peer support workers, with their lived experience of the condition, can help people with complex lives and long-term illness seek health care and change their lifestyle. Their use has not yet been tested to help people with ARLD.

Design and methods

This project has three parts:
  1. We will ask professionals and people with lived experience to adapt an existing model of care using a peer support worker to help people with ARLD. We will hold workshops to hear their suggestions about how to make CALM work for people with ARLD.
  2. We will conduct a test trial of CALM in 50 people with ARLD and heavy alcohol use who have not engaged with liver services in °µÍø½âÃÜ and Leeds. People who take part will be randomly assigned to either CALM or usual care for six months and followed-up for another six months. We will test whether people will take part and stay in the trial. During the trial, we will find ways to make CALM and the trial itself even better by talking to some of the people taking part and peer support workers.
  3. We will work out what information about health and care use we need to collect in a future larger trial to let us understand whether CALM provides value for money by assessing how much it costs and how much it improves quality of life and mental wellbeing.

Patient and public involvement

Patients are at the heart of this project. They identified this issue as a problem, helped design this proposal and will be involved in every step. We will ask people with lived experience to help us develop CALM. A patient advisory group will meet every three-to-four months during the project to help us design and carry it out with patients in mind. Two people with lived experience are part of the project group.
If you are interested in finding out more about this study, please contact the team at calm.penctu@plymouth.ac.uk or 01752 439831.