Cafes connect rural and coastal communities to mental health research
A community-based approach is helping to increase participation of people with lived experience of mental health in research across underserved rural and coastal areas in the South West, according to a new evaluation by Health Innovation South West.
Thanks to the efforts of more than a dozen new research cafes and community ‘listeners’, researchers and hundreds of local people in rural and coastal places in the South West are starting to come together to increase public involvement, engagement and participation in mental health research.
The community engagement has been enabled by the Research Engagement Network (REN) – a national programme with a regional collaboration of 15 partners, including Health Innovation South West, which was set up in 2022 to improve diversity and inclusion in health and care research.
The REN spotted it had significantly lower levels of participation in research from males, younger age groups, ethnically diverse groups, people with multiple health inequalities, and those from deprived rural and coastal communities.
Using funding from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the REN sought to tackle this imbalance by training mental health peer researchers or champions (known as ‘community listeners’) and establishing a network of 17 research cafes in rural and coastal areas across the South West, whose residents often struggle to access health and care services or don’t have a voice in their design and delivery. The cafe sessions built on an existing framework of drop-ins and peer support groups facilitated by the Devon Mental Health Alliance.
Our evaluation of the programme shows that of the 28 people who signed up to be community listeners, all had experience of mental ill health in one or more capacities, with almost all (92%) working in a professional role with people experiencing mental ill health.
The community listeners were involved in a variety of activities, including facilitating research cafes and drop-in sessions, attending meetings and events, collecting general feedback and research ideas from the community, and recruiting individuals to participate in research-related activities.
Using a monthly journal, several community listeners recorded their involvement in the facilitation of research cafes and drop-in sessions, with many reporting that they had connected with during the programme.
Our evaluation also captured the reflections of members of the public, who provided feedback on their interactions with community listeners or experience of attending a research cafe.
95% of participants said they valued their experience, felt listened to, and left the interaction or session understanding more about how to participate in research and were more likely to get involved.
Crucially, the role of community listeners allowed key connections to be made with both researchers and community members. The network and value of community listeners could be enhanced in the future through the offer of peer support channels to allow successful ideas to be shared and spread to other areas within the region.
As a result of further funding until March 2026, the programme will continue to focus on mental health within rural and coastal populations, particularly farming and connected communities where rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness are high.
As well as conducting the evaluation, Health Innovation South West provides programme management to REN, which includes overseeing the programme board, helping to set the strategic direction of the network, and designing the programme phases with each round of funding.
Learn more about the network and how you can get involved on our programme page. If you have any questions, please email Sophie Luders, Programme Manager.
