Risk assessment as a barrier to recovery based care in acute wards.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Risk assessment as a barrier to recovery based care in acute mental health wards. Attitudes and experiences of both patients and staff of current risk assessment interactions in Acute inpatient mental health wards.
IRAS ID
246993
Contact name
K Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Abertay
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Risk assessment in mental health is a recovery based tool that includes historic and current information from both nursing staff and patients to ensure the safety of the patient and others and allow the least restrictive and personalised care pathway to be formed. Previous research has shown that mental health nurses feel patient involvement in risk assessment is detrimental to a therapeutic relationship. There is a clear gap in literature to identify why nurses feel this way and what the barriers to recovery focussed care are in this regard. The study aims to identify if these barriers exist with in acute mental health wards in NHS Fife by quantitatively gathering information from current nursing notes initially. Qualitative interviews will then be used to gather the views and experiences of both Nursing staff and Patients with regard to interactions around the current risk assessment documentation with the aim of identifying what if any barriers exist and how these could be alleviated. Participants will be invited from all current inpatients on the three acute admission wards (Lomond ward at Stratheden Hospital, Ravenscraig Ward at Whytemans Brae Hospital and Ward 2 at Queen Margaret Hospital) aged 18 and over with out limitation on diagnosis and all participants will be deemed to have capacity to consent to involvement prior to any interactions taking place. Nursing staff will recruitment will be by invite to all NHS registered nurses currently working on the same wards. Data will then be collated to identify any themes and potential barriers. Depending on research results once completed this research would allow for further research in the future into improving interactions in this area and moving forward current nursing practice.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1442
Date of REC Opinion
23 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion