Research Assistant

The Mouth Matters in Mental Health trial is an NIHR funded project involving an intervention using mental health support workers as link workers to improve dental visiting in people with severe mental illness (SMI). This is a multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating an intervention for helping people with serious mental health difficulties (e.g. psychosis, bipolar mood swings) to find and attend a dentist, and through this improve their oral health.

Main duties of the job

The post starts in April 2026. The successful applicant will lead on recruitment and data collection for a trial. This will involve liaising with clinical teams, meeting potential participants, conducting clinical assessments (e.g. interviews, self-report measures) and managing data. The post-holder will receive clinical supervision and training from experienced clinical academics (e.g. Clinical Psychologists) working in the field of mental health research

About us

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We're really proud of ourand do everything we can to make sure we're a great place to work.

All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.

If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
• Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
• Access to Continued Professional Development
• Involvement in improvement and research activities
• Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
• Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person spec for details of the post in the attached documents

Person Specification Qualifications

• oBSc(hons) Psychology (2:1 or above) or equivalent (e.g. post graduate conversion course accredited by the British Psychological Society oEligibility for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society
• oMasters or above qualification relating to research methods

Skills

• oAbility to undertake psychologically informed research projects under supervision. oGood communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work across a number of different settings. oUse of Microsoft Office including Word, Excel etc. oOne to one and group communication oAbility to work with people from different backgrounds and of different ages. oAn ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines. oWork independently on a day to day basis oWork towards agreed goals via supervision oCommunicate effectively with potentially vulnerable or otherwise anxious participants oAn ability to interact effectively with clients, family members/paid carers. oAbility to work reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals.

Knowledge

• oQuantitative and qualitative research methods. oQuantitative data analysis using SPSS oResearch governance and ethics oAn understanding of the needs and difficulties of people with psychological/mental health difficulties or other disabilities
• oUnderstanding of Serious Mental illness oUnderstanding around difficulties in accessing dental care

Experience

• oData analysis either quantitative or qualitative oContact with people with mental health difficulties and/or other disabilities.
• oExperience of data collection on other funded projects relating to mental health. oOne or more peer reviewed publications as a co-author. oWork with potentially vulnerable mental health service users oExperience of preparing reports summarising data

other

• oAbility to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively. oAbility to undertake travel across a wide geographical area. oAble to work in the UK. oDriving licence and access to own vehicle

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.