Search results for ‘Subject term:"mentally disordered offenders"’ Sort:
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Mad, bad and dangerous to know: reflections of a forensic practitioner
- Author:
- PRINS Herschel
- Publisher:
- Waterside Press
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 155p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Hook
The author, who rose from a relatively modest background to become a leading authority on forensic work with mentally disordered offenders, charts the key events in a fifty year career. He traces his personal journey from 'main grade' probation officer, Home Office civil servant, trainer and inspector to top level positions at Leicester and Loughborough Universities, with the Parole Board, key nationwide committees, mental health inquiries and beyond. Having spent his professional life “working with the troubled and the troublesome, the unloved (and the often unlovely)”, a constant theme of his work has been to combine the practical with an awareness of what is possible when one works with mentally disordered offenders. Among the questions he attempts to answer are: Why choose that life and these clients? And what demands has that choice made on him, his family, his colleagues? The 'reflections' contain insights for practitioners and criminologists alike and the book is expected to be of inertest to criminal psychologists, psychiatrists, probation officers, social workers, judges, magistrates, and all students of crime and punishment.
Embracing the notion that context is crucial in prison mental health care
- Author:
- JORDAN Melanie
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 12(4), November 2010, pp.26-35.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Prisons often receive people from the community with mental health problems, and prison culture can adversely affect these problems. This article highlights the mental health of adult male prisoners and the mental health care provided within Her Majesty's Prison Service in the United Kingdom. Currently, the level of mental health need within this population is high, and prison mental health services require additional positive developments. The prison setting is not always conducive to good mental health, and is not often a useful catalyst for mental health care. The article suggests that prison mental health services ought to be increasingly commissioned, provided, managed and practised in direct accordance with the prison social environment, institutional set-up and specific mental health requirements of prisoners/patients. The author outlines the social and institutional structures which pervade the prison setting. The proposition is that situation-specific and culturally responsive mental health care is a must, and the context in which it is provided is crucial.
Blue remembered skills: mental health awareness training for police officers
- Authors:
- CUMMINGS Ian, JONES Stuart
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Adult Protection, 12(3), August 2010, pp.14-19.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Police officers can have a key role to play in situations where individuals are experiencing some sort of crisis relating to their mental health. Despite the fact that this is a very important facet of day to day police work, it is an area that is neglected in police training. The Bradley Report has raised a number of important questions regarding the treatment of individuals who are experiencing mental health problems and find themselves in the criminal justice system. One of the key recommendations is that professional staff working across criminal justice organisations should receive increased training in this area. This paper outlines two approaches to the training of police officers in the mental health field. The first is a joint working initiative between Hywel NHS Trust and Dyfed Powys Police. In this training, all student officers receive 2 days training in first aid in mental health, and spend 4 days at the acute psychiatric unit where they become personally involved in the care of individuals who are experiencing acute distress. The second approach comprised a classroom-based training course directed at custody sergeants. The article goes on to consider the most effective models of training for police officers.
An evaluation of the implementation of the recovery philosophy in a secure forensic service
- Authors:
- CORLETT Holly, MILES Helen
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 12(4), November 2010, pp.14-25.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This paper investigated the employment of the recovery model in a medium secure NHS forensic service in Kent, UK. Twenty-six staff and 17 mentally disordered offenders were interviewed in 2009 from the rehabilitation and pre-discharges units. Their views on recovery were measured using the Developing Recovery Enhancing Environments Measure. Staff consistently rated all 24 elements of recovery as more important than the offenders. Staff also rated the elements of recovery as better implemented, except intimacy and sexuality. There was a significant effect of offenders’ forensic history on ratings of how well elements of recovery were implemented, such as restriction status and index offence type. Staff and mentally disordered offenders rated all elements of recovery as at least moderately important. The authors concluded that once identified as important, recovery elements can be used to guide service development. Further implications of the recovery philosophy in forensic mental health services are discussed.
Psycho-educational groupwork for detained offender patients: understanding mental illness
- Authors:
- VALLENTINE Victoria, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 21(3), June 2010, pp.393-406.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Psycho-education for patients suffering from psychiatric disorders is seen as a key element in the goal of recovery. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of a groupwork cognitive behavioural psycho-educational intervention for patients in a high-security hospital. Four 20-session ‘Understanding Mental Illness’ groups, each containing up to 9 participants with a primary diagnosis of mental illness, were run over a period 3 years. The group aims to promote awareness of descriptions of illness and strategies for managing symptoms. Of the 42 patients originally referred, 31 completed the group. The Self-Concept Questionnaire (SCQ) and Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) were administered pre- and post-group, measures to monitor relapse and behavioural change were also included. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and their feedback was examined using content analysis. Themes from the interviews indicated that patients reported a number of benefits. Formal measures used as indices of 'change' failed to yield clear improvements in self-reported functioning. However, the majority of patients engaged in further psychological work, which is cautiously interpreted as a trend in the direction of openness to engagement.
Courting favour
- Author:
- GILLEN Sally
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, June 2010, pp.10-11.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
This article describes two projects that have been trying to steer mentally ill offenders away from prison. Since January 2009, two magistrates’ courts (one in Stratford, east London, the other in Brighton, Sussex) have been piloting mental health courts. As part of this programme, a mental health practitioner screens those arriving from police custody and prison, and, where necessary, carries out an assessment. Information from this assessment is taken into account by the magistrate when deciding how to deal with each case. If a person is identified as having mental health problems, community treatment is sought, rather than a custodial sentence. For those that are imprisoned, the assessment arrives with them to ensure their particular needs or risks are identified from the outset. The author concludes that, aside from the compelling moral argument for diverting people with mental health problems away from prison into community services, there are economic benefits too – figures suggest that a custodial sentence costs £13,125 on average, compared to a community order costing £1,500 to £4,000.
The assessment of imminent inpatient aggression: a validation study of the DASA-IV in Scotland
- Authors:
- VOJT Gabriele, MARSHALL Lisa A., THOMSON Lindsay D. G.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 21(5), October 2010, pp.789-800.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Inpatient aggression in psychiatric settings poses a serious management problem. This study reports the findings of a prospective pilot study on the Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression - Inpatient Version (DASA-IV). The DASA-IV is a 7-item structured risk assessment tool for assessing imminent inpatient aggression. The study was conducted in the State Hospital, the high secure psychiatric hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Data collection took place between May 2007 and November 2007. The outcome data were aggressive incidents recorded on the Staff Observation Aggression Scale - Revised (SOAS-R) and incidents noted on the hospital's online recording tool. All measures were completed by nursing staff as part of their daily clinical routine to ensure ecological validity. The DASA-IV was found to be of moderate to good predictive power. Staff found the DASA-IV quick and easy to complete. The potential for implementation of the tool is discussed.
The use of the care programme approach in perpetrators of homicide
- Authors:
- SWINSON Nicola, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 21(5), October 2010, pp.649-659.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The care programme approach (CPA) was introduced to improve coordination of care for people with severe mental illness. There are 2 levels of CPA: standard and enhanced. The aim of this study was to establish the proportion of perpetrators of homicide in contact with mental health services receiving care under enhanced CPA and to examine the quality of care received. The method involved a national clinical survey of homicide perpetrators in contact with mental health services in England and Wales. The results were as follows: of 380 homicide perpetrators in recent contact with services, 264 (69%) were not receiving care under enhanced CPA, including 26 (49%) with severe mental illness and previous violence. Of 107 patients under enhanced CPA, 35 (37%) were non-compliant and 40 (42%) had disengaged from services at the time of the offence; services had attempted to re-establish compliance in 10 cases and contact in 17 cases (43%). The article concludes that all high-risk patients should be supervised under enhanced CPA and that risk assessment becomes an integral part of every CPA review.
Perceptions, experiences and meanings of recovery in forensic psychiatric patients
- Authors:
- MEZEY Gillian C., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 21(5), October 2010, pp.683-696.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The 'Recovery Approach' is widely regarded as the guiding principle for mental health service delivery in the UK. However, it is not clear whether this approach has any relevance or is applicable to mentally disordered offender patients, who are almost invariably detained against their will and whose capacity to exert choice and control over their treatment must therefore be severely restricted. This study set out to explore forensic psychiatric patients’ experiences and perceptions of recovery. Ten patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were detained in medium secure psychiatric provision underwent face-to-face interviews. Most patients defined recovery as getting rid of symptoms and feeling better about themselves. Medication and psychological work, relationships with staff and patients and being in a secure setting were all cited as being important in bringing about recovery. The stigma associated with being an offender, as well as having a serious mental illness, was perceived as a factor holding back recovery, particularly in relation to discharge and independent living in the community. Core recovery concepts of hope, self-acceptance, and autonomy are more problematic and appear to be less meaningful to individuals, who are detained for serious and violent offences. The article concludes that the recovery approach may need to be modified for use in forensic psychiatric services.
Decision making in medium security: can he have leave?
- Authors:
- LYALL Marc, BARTLETT Annie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 21(6), December 2010, pp.887-901.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This qualitative study investigates how the decision is taken to grant leave to patients in a forensic psychiatric in-patient medium secure unit. Almost all forensic patients will receive some type of leave during the time they are detained in hospital. Risk is intrinsic to the granting of leave. This study aimed to understand better the process of decision making regarding the granting of leave at multidisciplinary ward rounds. The study is based in a single medium secure unit. Data were collected by a researcher from ward rounds over a period of 15 months using non-participant observation. Data were gathered from 116 discussions, concerning 18 different patients, and these data were subjected to content analysis. Two main thematic dialectics emerged: risk and humanity; and power and responsibility. Leave decisions were made in 96 instances and risk, per se, was seldom explicitly discussed. The question as to how consensus about risk is reached was only partly successful, as the basis of the decisions made was only partially illuminated. This study raises key questions about the balance between explicit information and implicit clinical knowledge that underpins routine clinical decisions.