Quantitative study with Mental Health Practitioners
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using a before and after study to evaluate the usability and impact of a brief suicide-specific psychological interventions training on staff levels of confidence.
IRAS ID
223282
Contact name
Zaid Hosany
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of West London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 16 days
Research summary
The use of specific psychological therapies within crisis settings has had empirical support (brief therapy, solution focused therapy, psychotherapy, mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy with studies from New Zealand indicating that crisis clinicians used a wide range of psychological interventions drawn from a broad theoretical base (Monshatet al., 2012). There is emerging interest among experts on the value of adopting cognitive behaviour strategies and family focussed approaches in crisis intervention(Rainere and Brown, 2007; Dattilo and Freeman, 2007) with some focus on the management of suicide risk (Wasserman et al., 2012) with reduced unhelpful thoughts and as a result decreased suicidal ideation being indicated (Coleman and Casey, 2007).
There are emerging evidence reviews postulating the effectiveness of a range of psychological approaches to suicide treatment and prevention (Brown and Jager-Hyman, 2014; Brown and Kelly, 2014; Jobes et al. 2015). There is a growing expansion of research in the development suicide-specific treatments that target suicide as the main focus of care compared to treating mental disorders and randomised controlled trials have been conducted to assess their efficacy and effectiveness (Jobes et al. 2015). A few suicide-specific treatments have been identified as being effective: Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) Cognitive therapy for suicide prevention (CT-SP), Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), the Collaboraive assessment and management of suicidality (CAMS) (Jobes et al. 2015). Other innovative brief interventions for suicidal risk have been developed in response to rapid changes in contemporary mental health care delivery: Stabilisation-oriented interventions (SPI), Teachable moment brief intervention (TMBI), Motivational interviewing for suicidal ideation (MI-SI) and Attempted suicide short intervention program (ASSIP) (Jobes et al. 2015). There is a gap in the literature of Crisis team mental health use of brief suicide-specific psychological interventions as part of their care with suicidal patients.Mental health practitioners working in CRHTT are not trained and equipped with brief suicide-specific psychological interventions and are not able to apply these skills in their routine practice with suicidal patients. This study is guided the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidelines for developing complex interventions framework (MRC, 2008, Craig et al., 2008) which consists of four stages in developing and evaluating complex interventions. I will only conduct Phase 1 : the identifying the evidence and developing theory phase and Phase 2: the modelling and testing phase of the MRC guidelines in this research. This is first part of the first stage which is the development stage. It consists of identifying the evidence base, identifying and developing theory and modelling processes and outcomes. Phase 1 will consist of a systematic review examining primary research of brief suicide-specific psychological interventions of trials of suicidal adult and a pilot qualitative study with staff to explore their views and preferences of using of brief suicide-specific psychological interventions in practice. The outcomes of the systematic review and a qualitative study will develop a conceptual framework of a suicide-specific psychological interventions and toolkit for staff working within a mental health crisis team to use and to help suicidal patients. A suicide-specific psychological interventions training will be designed from the framework and toolkit and delivered to CRHTT staff. This study is part of Phase 2 which will consist of using a before and after study to evaluate the usability and impact of the brief suicide-specific psychological interventions training on staff confidence.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0339
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion