A model of care about self-harm in male prisoners
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing a collaborative model of care-ful information sharing, through understanding the information flow of, and the responses and perceptions towards, self-harm in male prisoners
IRAS ID
236529
Contact name
Siobhan Neave
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
0, NA
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 28 days
Research summary
Safety in Custody statistics (Ministry of Justice, October 2017) demonstrate an alarming increase in the number of self-harm incidents within the male prisoner population (15% increase from June 2016-17). The management of self-harm in prison has received much criticism from prison reviews (e.g. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 2017) and there has been a recognised need for better communication, information-sharing and response towards self-harm. With minimal research existing that explores these challenges further, and the current prison climate in disarray (i.e. increase in substance misuse, mental health issues), the problem of self-harm becomes perpetual and a sustained barrier to the safety, security and rehabilitation of the prisoner.
This Leverhulme Trust funded project aims to develop a model of ‘care-ful information-sharing’ to reduce and protect against self-harm in male prisoners. The partnership between the care process (caring about, taking care of, care giving and receiving) and information-sharing will form the basis of this model, which will be developed through understanding the perspectives and responses towards self-harm by both prison staff and prisoners, how this impacts on the flow of information and understanding of self-harm information and its impact on the care process.
The proposed research will be conducted within a public-sector prison, using a sample of prison staff (prison officers, managerial staff and healthcare), ex-male prisoners and male prisoners (both those who are currently self-harming and those not). Both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be used to address research questions: How does information flow and be understood within the prison system? What are the perspectives and responses towards self-harm? This model of care-ful information-sharing could have applied clinical implications through informing prison policy and practice, as well adding to existing knowledge within the field.REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EE/0146
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion