Who wants to be an Approved Mental Health Professional?

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Who wants to be an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP)? Investigating reasons for the low proportion of AMHPs recruited from nursing, occupational therapy and clinical psychology

• IRAS ID

  230177

• Contact name

  Martin J Stevens

• Contact email

  martin.stevens@kcl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  King's College London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 8 months, 2 days

• Research summary

  Since 2008, a range of registered and professionally qualified mental health professionals, namely chartered psychologists, mental health and learning disability nurses and registered occupational therapists (OTs) can become Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs), as well as social workers. AMHPs are empowered to make decisions around people who have been removed to a place of safety by the police and coordinate decisions about whether a person will be offered inpatient hospital care, either on a voluntary or statutory basis. Almost a decade after widening the recruitment net, only 5.5% of AMHPs are not social workers, despite there being a shortage of AMHPs.

  There is much evidence about the motivations of social workers to become AMHPs, which included the fact that many social workers in mental health teams were expected to become one. In addition, many were also motivated by the nature of the work. However, there is much less evidence about the motivations of other professionals to become AMHPs and the factors which prevent or discourage them to take on this role.

  Research is needed to identify factors encouraging and discouraging the recruitment of mental health and learning disability nurses, chartered psychologists and occupational therapists (OTs) as AMHPs.

  The research will involve four different aspects:

  1. Interviews with nurses, chartered psychologists, and OTs
  2. A survey of a sample of Local Authorities
  3. Interviews with people with mental health problems and their families
  4. Interviews with professionals (police, psychiatrists, managers, commissioners, regulators) working in or with mental health and associated services

  The research will provide evidence which will help the Department of Health (DH) identify policy options on the most effective ways to increase the overall recruitment of AMHPs.

• REC name

  London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  17/LO/1308

• Date of REC Opinion

  2 Oct 2017

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion