Thank you for opening this survey. We appreciate it.

We are interested in how clinicians make fitness to practice decisions for themselves or when supporting supervisees. It can be difficult to know how much stress or distress we are feeling when we are in the middle of a challenging or unwell period. Our registration with the HCPC requires us to be aware of our ongoing fitness to practice, yet there is no definitive guidance on how to self-assess fitness to practice in respect of mental distress for clinicians.

We are interested in exploring potential interest in and benefit of a clinician-led self-use tool and/or guidance to support clinicians making fitness to practice decisions for themselves. This is going to take time, collaboration, and lots of support from our colleagues and community, so we are grateful for your help.

We designed this initial survey to take only FOUR minutes to complete. This is so that we can gather data from as many people as possible at this stage. We plan to gather some more in-depth data in focus groups and individual interview further down the line.

Please do your best to answer the questions below, and encourage your colleagues to do the same. We would like to reach as many clinical psychologists as possible in the UK and we'd be glad of your help. If you would like to get in touch directly you can reach me at sarahjane.verity@nhs.net

Note: When we talk about 'mental distress' we mean this term to include diagnosed or undiagnosed, chronic or transient conditions or states that impact on mental wellbeing.

If you feel distressed when thinking about these questions, please consider speaking with a colleague, friend, occupational health team, or national helpline, whichever you feel might offer the most appropriate support.

Your consent to our using your data to analyse anonymously is presumed by your participation. Respondents who consent to be interviewed will be given further information and a consent form at that stage in our data gathering.

Many thanks,

Sarah Verity (Clinical Psychologist and Paediatric Neuropsychologist)
Department of Health Psychology
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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* 1. Have you received any formal training, either through DClinPsy training (if relevant) or your workplace in how to assess your own fitness to practice if you became unwell or experienced high levels of stress or distress?

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* 2. How confident do you feel that you have the knowledge to know how to assess your own fitness to practice if you became distressed or unwell, or to assess the fitness to practice of a supervisee?

0 Not at all confident 10 Extremely confident
Clear
i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 3. If you became unwell or experienced mental distress that you were concerned might impact on your work, how likely would it be that you would speak with a supervisor or your occupational health team at that moment?
In answering this question we ask you to not think of times or occasions where it was clear to you that you were unfit to practice that day. We are wondering about times of stress or distress when it wasn't very clear to you whether your stress or distress might impact on your work.

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* 4. If you became unwell or experienced mental distress that you were concerned might impact on your work, how comfortable would you be speaking with a supervisor or your occupational health team at that moment?
In answering this question we ask you to not think of times or occasions where it was clear to you that you were unfit to practice that day. We are wondering about times of stress or distress when it wasn't very clear to you whether your stress or distress might impact on your work.

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* 5. How useful do you think a tool or guidance to help clinicians and supervisors assess FTP would be?

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* 6. How relevant do you feel a clinician self-use tool and/or guidance on FTP would be for you personally (either as a clinician or as a supervisor)?

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* 7. If you feel able to, would you please tell us whether you personally have experienced either a mental health condition, stress, or distress.

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* 8. Would you be willing for one of our research assistants or postgraduate students to contact you to arrange a short semi-structured interview? This would be held sometime between January 2022 and May 2022 and would be held by video or phone. Your responses would be transcribed and anonymised before they are analysed by the research team, and held separately to your responses to this questionnaire.
If so, we would be very grateful if you would EITHER leave your contact details below, or to keep your responses here fully anonymous mail sarahjane.verity@nhs.net with the email header: FTP research interview 2022 - Count me in!
I will save your email address and we will contact you in 2022 to see if you would still be able to help us. There is no obligation to be interviewed if you change your mind.

If you do not wish to be contacted again, please leave this section blank and go to the final question - thank you.

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* 9. Do you have any comments, contacts, or experiences that you would like to share with us that might help us to decide what work needs to happen next, and who we need to work with to make this happen?

Thank you for your time and input. This survey is intended to help us gather information about clinician fitness to practice decisions. Many clinicians experience diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health conditions, or experience chronic or transient stress or distress. In times of significant ill health/distress it can be clear when we need to seek support. At other times clinicians report feeling unsure about fitness to practice and when to take time off work or to seek help. We are keen to start a conversation in the professional community about the need for development of a clinician-led self-use tool or guidance to help clinicians make their own decisions about fitness to practice if and when this is relevant to them. This tool may also be used to scaffold supportive conversations in supervision if this would be useful. If you would like to contact us directly to input into this project, please email me directly at sarahjane.verity@nhs.net

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