The Relationship Between Trauma and Substance Misuse V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Trauma-Informed Substance Misuse Treatment Needs of High-Risk Female Mentally Disordered Offenders
IRAS ID
195478
Contact name
Elaine Fehrman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 3 days
Research summary
What are the trauma-informed substance misuse treatment needs of high-risk female mentally disordered offenders (MDOs)?
Historically substance misuse treatment has been based on research conducted in male populations. Research has shown different pathways between substance misuse and trauma, and its effect on trauma-related symptoms, mental disorder, and offending with gender playing a part. The research is important to better understand how trauma affects substance misuse in female MDOs as gender-sensitive treatment offers the best outcomes.
The research will measure rates of past trauma and substance use in MDOs and compare the relationship between the two, examine gender differences in trauma-related mental health outcomes, and explore the nature of female MDOs’ trauma experiences, and their views regarding treatment.
Potential benefits are to contribute knowledge and insight to inform substance misuse treatment interventions for an under-researched group.
The study will be carried out within one Directorate at Rampton Hospital; eligible patients will be aged 18-65 years within the Men’s Personality Disorder and National Women’s Directorate. Patients with a learning disability, acute mental health problems, or unable to provide informed consent would be excluded.
The research will be a two-part mixed methods design. The first involves men and women completing a self-report survey of past substance use utilising the DAST-20 (Drug Abuse Screening Test) and AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test), and past trauma exposure via the LEC-5 (Life Events Checklist for DSM-5). Those who have experienced past trauma will complete the TSI-2 (Trauma Symptom Inventory-2) to gauge current trauma-related psychological stress, and a bespoke questionnaire to determine specific types of drugs used. The second part will involve a subset of women completing face-to-face semi-structured interviews.
Data will be collected during a three-month period.
The research is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham as partial fulfilment for the Doctorate in Forensic Psychology degree, and Rampton Hospital.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0385
Date of REC Opinion
15 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion