Police, those in mental health distress and healthcare.V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Black, white and grey - a study of the interface and pathway between police, those in mental health distress and emergency health services.
IRAS ID
167733
Contact name
Inga Heyman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Robert Gordon University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, months, 28 days
Research summary
Frequently people in mental health distress (MHD) come to police attention and are brought to health services for assessment and support. For many reasons a health intervention many not be required or is compromised resulting in the individual being returned to the police for onward management. Yet, officers often believe the individual is still at risk and feel ill- equipped and under resourced to keep them safe. This has resulted in a ‘grey area’ of mental health service delivery with the interface and pathways between the service users, police and health practitioners poorly understood.
The focus of this qualitative study will be to examine these pathways and interfaces in order to understand the context and outcomes for those involved.
The embedded multiple case study will comprise three inter-related approaches.
Approach 1: Three case studies will be conducted on a retrospective basis. Nested within the unit of analysis will be three main investigatory perspectives: 1. Person in MHD; 2. operational police officers and staff involved in the case, and 3. health service practitioners in involved in the case.
Approach 2: Three focus groups will be conducted with police officers only, health practitioners only and one mixed group to support a broader understanding of this phenomenon from an operational perspective.
Approach 3: Semi –structured interviews will be conducted with health and police managers to provide a broader organisational and managerial perspective to pathway barriers and facilitators.
The Framework method of analysis will be used to manage and analyse the data.
The value of this study lies in understanding service user and partner interactions in this complex area of care and will increase inter-agency knowledge to support education and practice development. This is vital at a time when local and national integration of health and social care is ongoing.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
15/NS/0001
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion