How is discharge from forensic mental health services facilitated?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How is a safe discharge facilitated for long stay service users in low secure mental health services?
IRAS ID
258729
Contact name
Rachel Oakley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham - Aston Webb Building, Room 117
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
It has been suggested that a significant proportion of long stay service users in high and medium secure mental health services require long term or life-long provision, due to their presenting complex needs and risk histories (Melzer et al., 2004; Vorstenbosch, Bouman, Braun, & Bulten, 2014). Previous research has focused on defining this group’s characteristics and identification of the specific factors associated with increased length of stay (Brown & Fahy, 2009; Jacques et al., 2010; Kennedy, Wilson, & Cope, 1995; Long & Dolley, 2012; Huband et al., 2018; Shah et al., 2011; Duke, Furtado, Guo & Völlm, 2018 & Völlm et al., 2018). There is limited research that investigates the issue of long stay within low secure services and the processes required to achieve a safe discharge into the community.
This research will be conducted in three parts. Firstly, to ensure the service users discussed are representative of long stay service users, a file review of their clinical records will be conducted, to check their characteristics are similar to those previously identified as associated with increased length of stay. Secondly, five Clinical Team Meetings (CTM) that discusse five service users will be recorded. These meetings are facilitated by the multi-disciplinary team with the service users if they choose to attend, to discuss their treatment plan and progress to discharge. Occasionally, a Care Planning Approach (CPA) discussion will be held at the end of CTM meetings, if this occurs, these discussions held will also be recorded. Any verbal contributions from service users will not be transcribed. Finally, a focus group guided by a semi-structured interview, with the multi-disciplinary team will be conducted to explore how a safe discharge is achieved, along with the barriers that need to be overcome. All recordings will be transcribed and analysed using Thematic Analysis informed by Discourse Analysis.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0179
Date of REC Opinion
7 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion