Evaluating Group Interventions led by Clinical Associates in Psychology in NHS Community Mental Health Teams

Steverson, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1814-1610, Knowles, Sarah, Laws, Caitlin and Fisher, Paul (2026) Evaluating Group Interventions led by Clinical Associates in Psychology in NHS Community Mental Health Teams. Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice. ISSN 1755-6228 (In Press)

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Abstract

The Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP) role is a recent addition to the UK psychological workforce. Given the relative novelty of the role, examples of activities Clinical Associates in Psychology (CAPs) are undertaking in services are helpful to clarify the expectations and responsibilities of the role. This article aims to evaluate the feasibility, attendance rates and outcomes of a group therapy programme led by CAPs in secondary care, community mental health teams. A service evaluation using both a case series and uncontrolled, pre-post analysis. It is feasible for CAPs to run psychological therapy groups in secondary care, community mental health teams with no additional training or supervision beyond the standard requirements for CAPs. Attendance rates of the groups were comparable to groups run in similar settings. Using a 90% level of confidence, 69% of participants with pre-post data either “recovered” or “improved”. Using randomisation tests, all pre-post mean group difference scores were statistically significant (p < .05) with “large” effect sizes (d > 0.8). The CAP role is designed to provide psychological interventions for people with long-term and complex presentations. The findings of this evaluation show that CAPs can achieve improvement in such samples by leading the delivery of evidence based psychological group therapies in secondary care mental health services.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	clinical associate in psychology,psychological intervention group,,cognitve behaviour therapy,mental health,workforce development,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health)
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2026 12:36
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2026 12:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104665
DOI:	10.1108/JMHTEP-03-2025-0035

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