Mental Health Service Users' Perspectives and Experiences of Risk
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mental Health Service Users' Perspectives and Experiences of Risk assessment and management in an acute inpatient setting: A critical ethnography
IRAS ID
241853
Contact name
Richard Morriss
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Mental health service users’ perspectives and experiences of risk assessment and management in an acute inpatient setting
Background:
Mental health policy in England suggests that service users should be involved in the process of ‘risk assessment and management’. Evidence suggests that service users are consistently marginalised in this process. There has been little research into service user perspectives on, and experience of, risk assessment and management, which has allowed a professional lens upon risk to predominate.Research Question:
How do mental health service users experience risk assessment and management in an acute mental health setting?Methods:
The research will be conducted on a single, inpatient mental health ward (or acute ward) containing male and female service users.The primary method of data collection will be overt (open/transparent) observations over a 6-9 month period to gain an in-depth understanding of how risk assessment and management is undertaken on the ward, with a particular emphasis upon the service user experience. Spaces/interactions to be observed include: admission meetings, ward rounds, one-to-one care planning encounters, entry/exit to the ward, medication dispensing, discharge planning meetings, community meetings; staff meetings; handovers; and informal spaces on the ward (but no private spaces, such as bedrooms).
As service users near discharge they will be invited to take part in a semi-structured interview. Staff members will also have the opportunity to be interviewed.
Finally, with an individual’s consent, we would like to obtain key documentary sources (including ‘risk assessment’ and ‘care plan’ documentation), which would be immediately anonymised by the researcher prior to analysis.
Contribution:
The primary contribution of the proposed work will be to shed light on the service user perspective on, and experience of, ‘risk’, ‘risk assessment’ and ‘risk management’, with a view to improving the service user experience of these phenomena for the better.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EE/0154
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion