The effectiveness of high secure forensic care: a qualitative study

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    The barriers and facilitators influencing the effectiveness of high secure forensic care: a critical realist qualitative study

  • IRAS ID

    242068

  • Contact name

    Kevin Browne

  • Contact email

    kevin.browne@nottingham.ac.uk

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    0, 0

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 0 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    Using a qualitative research design, the study sets out to examine patients’ views about the barriers and facilitators to receiving effective care in a high secure forensic mental health setting.

    As in any other areas of health care, it is both scientifically and ethically important that interventions delivered in high secure care are of proven efficacy and are likely to play a positive role in alleviating health conditions. Patients should further expect all interventions to be evidence based and robustly evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of service provision. The average length of patient stay in high secure forensic care is approximately 8 years, and little research appears to exist regarding the impact of treatment on risk reduction, social functioning and overall treatment progress leading to transfer to lower levels of security.

    This study will therefore aim to understand the effectiveness of high secure forensic care, from the perspective of patients receiving care, and to consider factors which may act as barriers and facilitators to effective care.

    The study will take place at Rampton Hospital, a large high secure hospital in the East Midlands of England. Patients who have been resident in Rampton Hospital for at least 3 years will be eligible to take part in the study. In total about 20 participates will be recruited, from the mental health, personality disorder, learning disability and women’s services. It is estimated that following 20 interviews the data saturation point will have been achieved. Participants will be asked to take part in semi structured interviews, lasting no more than 1 hour.

    The eventual benefits of the study will potentially be to contribute to the reducing the length of high secure care stay, with benefits for patients and family and a reduction in cost with economic benefits for society.

  • REC name

    South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/SC/0301

  • Date of REC Opinion

    17 Jul 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion