Ethics in mental health research

Abstract The boundaries between innovative clinical practices and research-related experimentation can be difficult to distinguish. Whilst mental health research has increased remarkably over recent decades, ethics is required to maintain and improve the standards of mental health research. Ethics and science can be seen as opposing forces with different aims championed by different people. However, ethics should not be a barrier to scientific advancement, but rather as the way that mental health research can be conducted with broader societal support, with the expectation of bringing wider benefit to people with mental illness. Scientific advancements may also lead to novel ethical problems and raise questions in relation to oversight responsibilities. Mental health research faces several unique ethical challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of the ethical issues linked with mental health research. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Abstract: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 a shift to remote consulting for routine primary care and outpatient appointments was instructed. With the aim to inform whether and how remote consultations should continue postpandemic, the London NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) conducted a research-grade evaluation of the impact of this shift in London, focusing on cardiology and mental health as exemplar pathways. Quantitative methodology aimed to explore patterns of healthcare use, efficiency, and clinical outcomes using de-identified patientlevel health records datasets in North-West London and South London. Qualitative interviews with clinicians and patients with experience in remote consultations sought to develop a more in-depth understanding of the experience of the move to remote consulting.

ECP0009
Combining remote work and training: the experience of participating in the first Virtual EPA Gaining Experience Programme K. Shalak Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital, Lviv, Ukraine doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023 Abstract: Each year the European Psychiatric Association offers early career psychiatrists the opportunity to take part in the Gaining Experience programme, a scholarship that funds short observership placements (between 2 and 8 weeks) overseas in different psychiatric institutions across Europe to ECPs who have completed their psychiatric training. However, since COVID-19 was declared by the WHO as a worldwide emergency on 11th March 2020, it was no longer possible to provide offline overseas observerships. Therefore, the Gaining Experience programme changed its format in 2020-2021 and became virtual. It was in this context, that an Ukranian early career psychiatrist was going to participate in the virtual Gaining Experience programme at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London (United Kingdom) from December 2021. The observership placement had a particular academic focus, the essence of which was investigating psychotherapy training among ECPs in Ukraine, and to examine how it is included in psychiatry training. The sharing of this example of virtual observership shows that it is possible and feasible high-quality and affordable distance learning for ECPs. This training format can be useful not only during quarantine restrictions, but also in conditions of limited travel opportunities. Abstract: Professional attitudes and ethics skills of physicians are influenced in part by the lessons of medical training. Still, few medical schools and postgraduate training programs introduce a formal curriculum. There is also the hidden curriculum which is influenced by instructions that are implicitly learned by observation of others, the cultural climate, and the social norms. The hidden ethics curriculum in psychiatry resident programs was investigated with qualitative interviews. Patient autonomy (consent for admission, coercive treatments) and ethical problems that arise during the management of difficult patient populations (medical ills, substance users, and frequent fliers) were the most common themes. Psychiatric residents perceive a need for more education on ethical issues. The speaker will present the available knowledge on psychiatry residents' perspectives and the current programs addressing ethics training. This talk is hoped to elicit discussion in preparation for future action and inform a roadmap for addressing ethics training and subsequent educational events during psychiatry undergraduate and postgraduate education.

ECP0011
Ethics in mental health research

M. Pinto da Costa
Whilst mental health research has increased remarkably over recent decades, ethics is required to maintain and improve the standards of mental health research. Ethics and science can be seen as opposing forces with different aims championed by different people. However, ethics should not be a barrier to scientific advancement, but rather as the way that mental health research can be conducted with broader societal support, with the expectation of bringing wider benefit to people with mental illness. Scientific advancements may also lead to novel ethical problems and raise questions in relation to oversight responsibilities. Mental health research faces several unique ethical challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of the ethical issues linked with mental health research.

ECP0012
Survey on Psychotherapy training In Ukraine, and its importance in the current war.
K. Shalak Lviv Regional Clinical Hospital, Lviv, Ukraine doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.204 Abstract: Psychiatrists postgraduate training in Ukraine lasts only for 18 months and the curriculum includes psychotherapy. However, little is known about its quality and provision. The aims of the research were to investigate the current psychotherapy training status in Ukraine, to examine how it is included in psychiatry training and to identify access to it. An anonymous online survey was conducted among early career psychiatrists (psychiatry trainees or psychiatrists within 5 years after specialising in psychiatry). The findings show that the minority had access to psychotherapy training though the majority of responders consider it to be an important part of psychiatry training. This study encourages to improve the accessibility and quality of psychotherapy training in Ukraine. It shows that despite the low accessibility of psychotherapy training for psychiatry trainees there is a high need in it. It is even more relevant in times of war, given its negative consequences for mental health and the growing need for educated psychotherapists.

ECP0013
Leadership skills perceptions in trainingthe EFPT perspective Abstract: Leadership in healthcare organisations is crucial to continually improve and provide adequate and quality care. Leadership development and training empower psychiatrists to develop leadership skills. Focusing on how to enhance leadership development through leadership skills training and experiential learning should be a priority.
Nonetheless, there is a perception that, throughout Europe, the acquisition of basic or more advanced leadership skills is very seldom part of the professional training. In 2019, a Leadership Working Group (LWG) was set up within the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT). Its aim is to provide trainees an opportunity to develop their leadership skills. This presentation will show case some of the efforts by the LWG. A special focus will be given to a European-based cross-sectional survey of needs about leadership skills training in Psychiatry aimed at ECPs, that showed that a majority of ECPs had no access to leadership skills training within curricula and that all the respondents requested it to be included in a psychiatric training program in either optional or mandatory fashion. Abstract: The presentation will focus on elements of leadership that have been shown to be useful on local and more comprehensive levels. It will be based on experience gained in leadership positions in international and national organizations and during leadership and professional skills courses which were conducted in more than 40 countries over the past thirty years. Among the topics that will be addressed for discussion and further action will be the need to introduce leadership training in the course of postgraduate education and to provide career advice at the beginning and during early years of service. Abstract: In this workshop we aim to discuss the ins and outs of publishing in psychiatry with practical guidance from both sides of the couch. The executive editors of the European Journal of Psychiatry (Dr Asilay Seker, Dr Mário J. Santos, and Dr Luís Afonso Fernandes) will talk about their experience of starting a journal from scratch with very limited resources and share practical tips with the participants about publishing for early career psychiatrists to early career psychiatrists.