Research Assistant in the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

at  Kings College London

Job id: 090549. Salary: £37,332 - £39,980 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.
Posted: 05 June 2024. Closing date: 17 June 2024.
Business unit: IoPPN. Department: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Contact details: Dr Daniel Michelson. daniel.michelson@kcl.ac.uk
Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category: Research.
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About us:
The post-holder will be based in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, joining Europe’s largest grouping of youth-focused mental health scientists, clinical academics and researchers at the newly established Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People.
About the role:
We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated pre-doctoral Research Assistant to work on the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded ‘Personalised Programmes for Children Study’ (PPC study), based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, KCL, in partnership with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Reading.
The PPC study The RCT is evaluating a new personalised family intervention programme (Personalised Programme for Children and Parents: PPCP) in comparison to a new parent-directed, clinician supported online education and support programme (Parent Led Education and Support-PLES, using the Parenting Matters course, www.parentingmatters.co.uk) for young children (4-9) with persistent conduct problems. Both programmes will be delivered as part of CAMHS services The goal of the RCT is to consider whether a personalised, individual family approach is superior to a less intensive intervention when child conduct problems have not responded to parent group programmes, or parents have not engaged in these programmes, for whatever reason.
Children with conduct problems are a poorly served group who do particularly badly in terms of current functioning and longer-term outlook for mental health and well-being. one third fail to make minimally useful treatment gains when offered the best of current treatment, so are at particularly high risk of continuing problems and a poor long-term prognosis. There is therefore a pressing need to develop a new intervention for children with persisting conduct problems as currently, there is nothing available.
The successful applicants will be part of a large interdisciplinary team including Professor Stephen Scott, Dr Daniel Michelson (IOPPN,) Dr Rob Senior & Dr Eilis Kennedy (the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust), and Professor Jonathan Hill (University of Reading).
The postholder will be responsible for recruiting families to the study; supporting families in completing baseline and follow up questionnaires; completing interviews and assessments with parents and children; entering data into study databases, liaising with the CTU to randomise participants, and contributing to the analysis and dissemination of the findings.
The role requires sensitive and supportive work with multi-stressed families from diverse backgrounds, to engage families and encourage them to continue in the study. Personal skills of warmth, humour, patience, respect and a collaborative approach will be key.
Some qualitative research interviews will be carried out in addition to administering quantitative measures.
This post will be offered on a full-time, fixed term contract until 31st December 2024.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
1. Undergraduate (2:1 minimum) degree in psychology, or other immediately relevant subject.
2. Research experience (beyond undergraduate project), including experience of conducting assessments and setting up and managing data bases
3. Evidence of research-related computing skills: word processing, Excel and Endnote, packages to support data analysis.
4. Experience in quantitative research methodology
5. Experience of working in teams with evidence of ability to work collaboratively with others and independently as needed
6. Experience of working with children and families in highly stressed situations with evidence of a high level of ability to work with sensitivity, patience, respect and good humour.
7. Excellent verbal and written communication with team members, referring professionals and participants.
Desirable criteria
1. Postgraduate qualification in psychology, health data science, health-related or other relevant subject – or equivalent experience
2. Experience of working with children with challenging behaviour and families experiencing multiple pressures including socioeconomic difficulties, mental health, relationships and substance misuse issues.
3. Knowledge of theory relevant to understanding children with significant conduct problems and co-occurring conditions including ADHD and emotional difficulties and knowledge of parenting interventions for these conditions
4. Some knowledge of qualitative research methods
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “

Please refer the Job description for details