February half-term update

Hello everybody, and happy Half Term! I hope it’s a peaceful week for you, however you’re spending it.

2025 has begun with a flurry or activity for EmCASH, and I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make progress with the study.

Engaging with the Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG)

A recent highlight was meeting up with Jess - our YPAG lead - over coffee to discuss our plans for EmCASH. We’re excited to host a virtual YPAG workshop next week, focussing on the interview study and co-creating public-facing materials such as study posters, information sheets and consent forms. I’m really looking forward to catching up with the group, and to ensuring their voices remain at the centre of the project.

Connecting with Battle Scars

Attending several Battle Scars meetings this month has been incredibly motivating. When you’re sat behind a computer every day, it’s easy to get lost in the details, but engaging directly with the people we are aiming to help reinforces the importance of this project and keeps my enthusiasm high!

EmCASH progress updates

1.      Literature review. Our protocol is currently under review for publication – fingers crossed! I have been chipping away with screening titles and abstracts from our initial search, which returned over 2800 results – I’ve just reached the 75% mark!

2.      Data study. Collaborating with the CUREd+ team has been really helpful in refining our data application. This week, I’ll be meeting with Sam, my statistics supervisor, to finalise the codes we’ll be using. Our goal is to submit the application in March, in time to be reviewed in April, and hopefully we can start analysing the data in July.

3.      Interview study – the early part of 2025 has been dedicated to preparing our ethics application and associated documents. The plan is to submit to the University of Leeds for their approval in March, before it goes to the NHS ethics panel in May.

If, like me, you are fed up with the short days and cold weather, remember there are only 31 days until the start of Spring, and 41 days until the clocks go forward. We’re almost there!

With best wishes,

Dan :-)

Dan & Jess catching up over coffee!