Focus Groups on Cognitive Function in Psychosis

Design The investigators will conduct two sets of focus groups (2 focus groups at the beginning and 1 or 2 focus groups at the end of the project) with a total of 6-8 participants each. Focus groups will include either with people with lived experience with psychosis or carers of people with lived experience with psychosis. Timetable Attempts to contact participants will begin as soon as ethical approvals are in place. It is expected that data collection will be completed over a 4-6-month period. Interpretation and analysis of findings and preparation of the final report will be completed by 30/09/2026. Methodology Each focus group will last approximately one hour and will be conducted by a research group member with relevant expertise. The focus groups will be held in-person at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) Main Building, King's College London, although provision will be made for participants to also participate online via Microsoft Teams. The focus groups will be conducted in close temporal proximity one to another. The focus groups will be facilitated by project staff, including project members with lived experience of psychosis. Participants will be reimbursed for their time in participating in the focus groups and for their travel expenses to attend. The focus groups will be recorded (audio only) with participants' informed consent. Focus group data will be transcribed verbatim by a professional transcription company. The first set of focus groups will explore the cognitive deficits that people with lived experience of psychosis or their carers consider to be the most impairing. The second set of focus groups will discuss the results that emerge from this project, paying particular attention to the participants' views on both the risks and potential opportunities derived from our project, including recommendations regarding future stages of research. The investigators will also discuss the best way to present findings to the wider scientific community and lay audiences. For each set of focus groups, thematic analysis will be conducted to order data into meaningful patterns. Thematic analysis will include inductive and deductive coding to ensure that analysis is shaped by participants' concerns and priorities, and allow the investigators to systematically probe the data, asking questions arising from the existing literature. Thematic analysis will be performed using the Atlas.ti software, which is an industry standard for both deductive and inductive analyses. Finally, the findings from the focus groups will be disseminated via publications prepared with input from the lived experience experts.