This paper focuses on the occupational experiences of five men living within a forensic mental health unit over a year. This study used a descriptive qualitative case study methodology to explore the meaning and value placed on daily life (activities, occupations and routines), and how this changed over time. The men’s stories showed a complex picture of their experiences of daily life. This study demonstrated the impact of the environment on the men and the ongoing challenge of the need to balance treatment/therapy with security demands and opportunities. Three interrelated themes were identified: (1) Power and Occupation; (2) Therapy or Punishment; (3) Occupational Opportunities within Restrictions. These findings serve as a reminder to clinical teams to reassess the value of occupations attributed by their patients and the impact of the secure environment, whilst also acknowledging the potential for occupations to have a negative impact on well-being. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Health and social care professionals are gatekeepers to, and custodians of, confidential service user information. In the United Kingdom (UK), police investigations have unveiled cases of payments being made to public service officials by journalists in return for service user information. The purpose of this discussion is to investigate such cases in the context of high-security forensic care. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
In England and Wales, prisoners with mental disorder of such severity as to warrant inpatient treatment may be transferred to hospital under the Mental Health Act. UK Government guidance recommends that this process should be completed within 14 days; however, evidence suggests that in many cases it can take much longer. This retrospective service evaluation of 64 male prisoners, who were transferred under Section 47 or Section 48, aimed to evaluate transfer durations. The mean time from referral to admission was 76 days. Prisoners with a psychotic disorder were admitted more quickly. Remand prisoners were admitted more quickly than sentenced prisoners. Findings suggest that, in the UK the transfer time of prisoners under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act continues to far exceed the 14-day target which raises concern about equivalence of care for prisoners. Our findings support arguments for fundamental amendments to the admissions process. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Law and Human Behavior40.3 (Jun 2016): 233-243.
The present study examined risk for inpatient aggression, including treatment-related changes in risk, using a battery of 5 forensic instruments. The relative contributions of different types of risk factors to the assessment of risk for inpatient outcomes were also assessed. The Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20V3, Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability, Violence Risk Scale, Violence Risk Appraisal Guide–Revised, and Psychopathy Checklist–Revised were rated from archival information sources on a sample of 99 adult forensic inpatients from a Canadian psychiatric hospital
With a large and expanding prison in the city, and with prisoners known to have significant physical and mental health issues, Healthwatch Peterborough recognised the need to engage with this group whose voices are often not heard.
They worked with the nursing staff at HMP Peterborough to nominate wellbeing representatives within the prison who could promote health campaigns, support other prisoners and find out about their experiences and concerns.
The Justice Committee publishes their report on prison safety, concluding that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) must produce an action plan for improving prison safety, addressing the factors underlying the rises in violence, self-harm and suicide.
Fear and aggression are often reported among professionals working in locked psychiatric wards and also among the patients in the same wards. Such situations often lead to coercive intervention. In order to prevent coercion, we need to understand what happens in dangerous situations and how patients and professionals interpret them. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Background Safewards is a multicomponent, evidence-based conflict and containment reduction intervention that has demonstrated effectiveness in general acute mental health settings.
Aim To evaluate the effect of Safewards in six wards of a regional medium secure forensic unit. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Non-illicit alternatives to controlled drugs, known as novel psychoactive substances (NPS), have recently risen to prominence. They are readily available, with uncertain pharmacology and no widely available assay. Given that psychiatric patients are at risk of comorbid substance abuse, we hypothesised that NPS use would be present in the psychiatric population, and sought to determine its prevalence and investigate the characteristics of those who use these drugs with a retrospective review of discharge letters. Open Access Article
This service evaluation project explored service users’ experiences of positive behavioural support (PBS) within a medium secure mental health service. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
High levels of stigma and discrimination are reported by individuals with mental health problems. Aim: To assess self-reported levels of stigma and discrimination in forensic psychiatric patients, with psychotic illness, compared with general adult psychiatric patients with psychosis. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
With extremely high rates of mental ill-health among the prison population, Mental health and criminal justice draws on experiences from across England and Wales to determine the way forward for improvement.
Commissioned by the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice, the Centre's Dr Graham Durcan identified key areas for improvement across the criminal justice system. Consultations were held across England and Wales to review the experiences of over 200 people with personal or professional knowledge of the interfaces between the criminal justice system and mental health services.
Evidence for mentalisation-based therapy (MBT) is increasing in relation to the treatment of personality disorder. Individuals with personality disorder are over-represented in inpatient, forensic and forensic inpatient mental health services. This study explores MBT within a forensic setting as an intervention designed to moderate deficits linked to violence and to improve adaptive coping. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
The negative portrayal by the media of people diagnosed with a mental health disorder who commit crime can have profound effects on all concerned. In cases where the manslaughter of a stranger occurs in a public place, the media coverage is widespread and affects the offender, the victim’s family, mental health services and even the care, treatment and legislation of all of those diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
This article will use the case of John Barrett, who murdered a stranger, Denis Finnegan, in a London park. It will demonstrate how, and attempt to understand why, media saturation occurs. A thematic analysis of newspaper coverage representing this case was undertaken with reference to existing literature, which provided three themes: the mentally disordered offender as ‘other’, the concept of blame and race.
the evidence for patient benefits within secure psychiatric hospitals are somewhat limited (Davies et al., 2007; Maden et al., 1999). Whilst single studies have examined the outcomes of discharged patients in several countries (Steels et al., 1998; Yoshikawa et al., 2007), there is a need to synthesise these reports, present information on all adverse outcomes and also to provide some comparative information to contextualize these findings.
The authors of the present study (Fazel et al, 2016) therefore chose to conduct a systematic review of studies that have tracked patients after being discharged from a secure psychiatric hospital for criminal behaviour, readmission to psychiatric hospitals and mortality.
A groundbreaking new approach will be adopted in West Mercia next month, as the area’s youth offending service (YOS) is transferred to the Police & Crime Commissioner.
Local authorities in Worcestershire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire have all approved the plans, which are the first of their kind in the UK.
Low secure services provide care for psychiatric patients whose risk cannot be safely managed in other settings. The physical environment in these units plays an important role in supporting recovery and risk management. We developed the Quality of Environment in Low secure Services (QELS) checklist to assess the quality of the physical environment of these services. Using recommendations from previously published standards we piloted a draft checklist with a weighted scoring system reflecting the views of patients and providers. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Ian Callaghan recounts his experiences of secure mental healthcare and explains why he is optimistic. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai