At this year’s annual conference of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) in London, Hind Alharbi – third year PhD student supervised by Professor Paul Farrand, CEDAR, Psychology – presented a poster. This arose from a qualitative study included within her research examining attitudes of Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom towards mental health service delivery to understand barriers accessing psychotherapy and the potential for CBT to address these barriers. The study received much interest in the conference from NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service leads and practitioners and resulted in requests for further meetings. The poster was awarded commendation of best poster at the conference, attracting free conference entry next year.

Results arising from this study and wider PhD will be used by Saudi Ministry of Health to promote country-level developments and evaluation in the organisation and delivery of psychological therapies across Saudi Arabia. It will also help to raise the profile of the research to improve access to psychological therapies for Sunni Muslims across Saudi Arabia and to support improved access into IAPT services in England.

You can view and download the poster here.