Evaluating effectiveness of Behavioural Treatment for Substance Abuse
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Behavioural Treatment for Substance Abuse programme in a forensic psychiatric population.
IRAS ID
167396
Contact name
Lucy Fisher
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 15 days
Research summary
The primary aim of this research is to identify if the Behavioural Treatment for Substance Abuse (BTSA) groupwork programme is effective in reducing substance use and changing attitudes towards substance use in a sample of inpatient and community offenders with serious mental illness.
The research also aims to investigate the effects of the programme on readiness to change specifically relating to drug and alcohol use, locus of control, self-confidence in managing future drug and alcohol use and general confidence in ability to manage future challenging situations.
Participants will be adult male forensic psychiatric inpatients residing at Berrywood Hospital in Northampton and Lambeth Hospital in South London or residing in the community and referred by their Community Forensic Mental Health Team.
This research will be useful as the BTSA programme in this setting has not yet been evaluated prospectively with this population. The research will develop upon a previous retrospective pilot study completed in South London indicating some positive findings associated with the programme. The programme is being newly introduced to Berrywood Hospital and has been running at Lambeth Hospital for seven years. The research will indicate how effective the intervention is in reducing substance misuse, improving general social interaction and functioning. This will help to improve service provision within the Trust to forensic psychiatric inpatients and community patients.
Services aimed at reducing substance misuse, improving general life quality and interpersonal interactions will provide benefits to the wider community by hopefully reducing levels of crime and preventing future victimisation.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0051
Date of REC Opinion
18 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion