Talking about suicide: Investigating institutional risk assessments
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Talking about suicide: An investigation of institutional risk assessments
IRAS ID
167802
Contact name
Adam Flintoff
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Essex
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
Reducing the rates of suicide is a key governmental objective and risk assessments are an important part of this. The majority of research into risk assessments has been conducted from a risk factor approach which is useful but limited to the identification of suicidal correlates. Risk assessments are routinely carried out within the government launched Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme where the focus remains on risk factors and little information is given to practitioners about the process of completing assessments. This is problematic as risk assessments have been shown to be complex endeavours and can also be emotional experiences for both practitioners and clients.
Recent work has shown that attending to naturally occurring interactions can provide a rich way of understanding the nuances involved in a range of interactions. This research therefore proposes analysing the actual process of risk assessments completed in the clinical setting. This will be done by audio recording risk assessments from duty screening calls completed over the telephone between IAPT workers and their clients, observations of the process, interviewing practitioners and document analysis. The recordings will be transcribed and analysed using principles from discourse analysis.The analysis will focus on how practitioners and clients talk about issues of risk within therapeutic interactions, and consider what informs these interactions. Attention will also be paid to the consequences of the interactions. Analysing risk assessments in this way may highlight the complexity involved as well as provide detailed information about how risk assessments can be a supportive process. This research may therefore improve theoretical and practical understandings and potentially enhance the support provided to people receiving a risk assessment. This project will be written up in thesis form for a professional doctorate in clinical psychology and kept in the Albert Sloman library at the University of Essex.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0154
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion