Mental health and relationship difficulties - version 1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Mental health and relationship difficulties: the experiences of mental health service users who have perpetrated domestic violence and abuse

  • IRAS ID

    234000

  • Contact name

    Sian Oram

  • Contact email

    sian.oram@kcl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    King's College London

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 6 months, 2 days

  • Research summary

    Background:
    Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those who are (or have been) intimate partners or family members aged 16 and above, regardless of gender or sexuality. Reviews have shown that people with mental health problems are at increased risk of experiencing and perpetrating DVA compared to the general population. Research has also found that mental health professionals face challenges in identifying and managing the risk of DVA perpetration among their service users.

    Aim:
    This study aims to investigate the experiences of mental health service users who are, or have been, perpetrators of DVA.

    Methods:
    Individual semi-structured interviews will be conducted with mental health service users to explore their experiences of relationship difficulties, including DVA perpetration, and of talking about these problems with mental health professionals. Participants will be recruited with help from staff at mental health teams and through a computer system that allows researchers to contact service users who have agreed to be contacted for the purposes of research.

    People will be eligible to take part if they are receiving care and treatment from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, aged 18 or above, of any gender, who are able to communicate in English, and have experienced difficulties in their relationships with intimate partners or adult family members, including perpetration of DVA.

    The interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed and analysed by the student using qualitative methods. Findings may be used to develop interventions to improve mental health services' responses to DVA perpetration.

  • REC name

    London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/LO/1220

  • Date of REC Opinion

    3 Sep 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion