How do family & carers view their relationship with forensic services?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do family, friends, & carers view their relationship with forensic services?
IRAS ID
169141
Contact name
Michael Larkin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham Research Support Group
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
The emphasis on care in the community has led to greater reliance on family and friends taking on supportive and caring roles, previously provided by professionals. Numerous studies have demonstrated that carers of individuals with severe mental illness experience significant stressors, and often do not receive sufficient support themselves (Sanders, 2003). This can have implications for the carer’s physical and mental well-being (Barrow & Harrison, 2005). Evidence has also demonstrated the value of carer involvement, improving communication between staff and carers, and improving service user and carer well-being. In order to achieve carer-centred provisions within services, the Triangle of Care was implemented across the UK (National Mental Health Development Unit, 2010). Evidence however suggests difficulty translating this policy into practice.
Carers experiences within Secure and Complex Care settings have been less well explored. For the purpose of this study, the term ‘Secure and Complex Care’ will be used interchangeably with ‘forensic’ care. There is evidence to suggest that forensic carers experience additional stressors and needs to those described above, for example stressors related to the index offence itself (McCann et al., 1996). The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore families’, friends’, and carers’ experiences of Secure and Complex Care Services. This will hopefully identify themes that may aid carer involvement and engagement with Secure and Complex Care services in the future.
The focus of this study is the subjective experience of the carer, therefore a focus group and in-depth interviews will be administered. The interviews (4-8 adult participants) will be semi-structured, using open-ended questions, and will last for 30-60 minutes. The focus group (3-5 adult participants) will last up to 90 minutes and involve establishing ground rules. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) will be used to analyse the data. The venue will be hospital property, BSMHFT.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0220
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion