Publications – PIECEs

This archive brings together publications and outputs emerging from PIECEs — a five-year NIHR-funded research programme improving community-based mental health care in India and Pakistan.

Together, they reflect the connected programme of research across both countries, and present outputs in a range of formats, including journal articles, statistical analysis plans, toolkits and reports, organised by year and by type of publication. Individually and collectively, these works generate insights that aim to inform further research, spark discussion, and contribute to policy development.

Statistical Plan

PIECEs RCT Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)

Year

2021

Statistical Plan

Health Economics Analysis Plan (HEAP) – PIECEs Trial

The Health Economics Analysis Plan (HEAP) sets out the approach for assessing the cost-effectiveness of DIALOG+ as part of the PIECEs randomised controlled trial in India and Pakistan. It describes how the economic evaluation will examine costs to healthcare providers, patients and families alongside changes in quality of life, including Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). The plan outlines the methods for collecting, managing and analysing economic data across the PIECEs trial sites, including healthcare resource use, patient and caregiver costs, and intervention costs. The evaluation is designed to provide country-specific evidence for India and Pakistan, alongside a pooled analysis examining the potential cost-effectiveness of DIALOG+ in resource-constrained settings.

Year

2021

Toolkit

Voices in Practice: A Guide for Participatory Mental Health Research and Stakeholder Engagement in South Asia

Voices in Practice grew directly from the experiences, learning and challenges of the PIECEs research programme, a four-year initiative working across India and Pakistan to improve community-based care for people living with psychosis. The programme was led by Queen Mary University of London (UK), the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in Chennai, India, and Interactive Research and Development (IRD) in Karachi, Pakistan, working alongside people with lived experience, caregivers, researchers, artists, healthcare professionals and community partners. Throughout PIECEs, people with lived experience were increasingly involved not simply as research participants, but as co-creators, knowledge-holders and agents of change, helping to shape the design, delivery and dissemination of the research. The guide brings together practical lessons from the participatory approaches developed and tested through PIECEs, including Lived Experience Advisory Panels (LEAPs), Theatre of the Oppressed, SALT and the Community Life Competence Process, Quality Improvement, and small-scale research grants. It translates this collective experience into practical guidance for researchers, community organisations, facilitators, healthcare professionals and institutions seeking to embed lived experience, meaningful participation and community engagement within mental health research and services in South Asia and beyond.

Year

2026

Toolkit

A Guide to Developing an Advisory Board for People with Early Psychosis

The ADEPT Manual is a practical guide for developing and running advisory boards for people experiencing early or first-episode psychosis. Co-developed with people with lived experience, caregivers, mental health professionals and community stakeholders, it promotes meaningful participation in the planning, delivery and evaluation of mental health services and research. Developed by the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in India, the guide provides practical guidance on establishing an advisory board, including defining its goals, recruiting and supporting members, orientation and training, structuring meetings and improving the board over time. It was developed through the PIECEs Small Scale Research Grant programme, funded by NIHR.

Year

2025

Journal Article

SSRG: Of the people, for the people, by the people: Development of an ADvisory board for Experience-enriched service and research in Psychosis Treatment – ADEPT Project

Year

2025

Journal Article

PIECES- Pilot Feasibility Study: Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of DIALOG+ (a structured digital communication tool) in strengthening psychiatric care in India and Pakistan: a qualitative pilot study

Year

2025

Journal Article

Assessing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a solution-focused resource-orientated approach (DIALOG+) to improving the quality of life for people with psychosis in India and Pakistan—a cluster RCT

Year

2023

Journal Article

Helping people with psychosis with a low-cost intervention DIALOG+: protocol for the economic evaluation in a randomised control trial in India and Pakistan

Year

2025

Journal Article

Implementing psychosocial interventions within low and middle-income countries to improve community-based care for people with psychosis—A situation analysis

Year

2022

Journal Article

PIECEs: RCT Findings paper

Year

2022

Report

PIECEs' Smal Scale Research Grants in India and Pakistan - Report

Year

2025

Book Chapter

Chapter in Handbook of Health Communication in the Global South

Year

2026

Toolkit

Chapter: Moving beyond the checklist: Practitioners' insight on lived experience collaboration in mental health research from India and Pakistan

Year

2026

Documentary Film

Voices Unheard

A documentary that rethinks the narrative around psychosis, through the voices of those who live it. Filmed between Chennai (India) and Karachi (Pakistan), Voices Unheard follows four people living with psychosis as they navigate family life, work, relationships, and everyday challenges. Through intimate, first-person storytelling, the documentary offers a rare and deeply human perspective on recovery, resilience, and belonging, inviting audiences to reconsider what they think they know about severe mental illness. The film was created as part of PIECEs, an international research programme exploring new approaches to community-based care for people living with psychosis in India and Pakistan. Grounded in the belief that people with lived experience are experts in their own lives, the project brought together participants, family members, researchers, artists, and mental health professionals through community-based interventions and creative participatory methods, including Theatre of the Oppressed, to challenge stigma and imagine new possibilities for care and inclusion. Produced by: Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF, India), Interactive Research & Development (IRD, Pakistan), Queen Mary University of London, and People's Palace Projects.

Year

2026