AMHPs and the detention of Black service-users under the MHA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) and the compulsory detention of Black service-users under the Mental Health Act - An Institutional Ethnography
IRAS ID
279345
Contact name
Renée Aleong
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 27 days
Research summary
The Mental Health Act (MHA) is the legal framework that allows mental health patients to be admitted to hospital, detained and treated against their wishes (or 'sectioned'). Research has consistently shown that people from Black ethnic groups in Britain are disproportionally represented in compulsory detention under the MHA compared to White groups. An important element of the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) role is deciding after all circumstances of a case are considered, that compulsory detention in psychiatric hospital (‘sectioning’) is the most appropriate way of providing care and medical treatment to meet the needs of the person. AMHPs exercise their own judgment, based on social and medical evidence, when deciding whether to apply for people to be detained under the MHA.
This PhD research will apply institutional ethnography (IE) as a social theory and methodology to answer the guiding research question: How do the operational and institutional structures within the role of social worker AMPHs influence the process of compulsory detention of Black service-users under the MHA? This study aims to describe the ways in which the role of social worker AMHPs conducting sectioning processes under the MHA is structured and operationalised and it's potential impact on Black service-users.
IE’s common methods of data collection will be adopted, which will include interviewing social worker AMHPs. Additionally, written policies and procedures will be examined in order to learn “how things work." These methods will be used to demonstrate how the work of social worker AMHPs is systematically coordinated through a complex convergence of national and local policies and procedures. This study’s findings may provide crucial information on the work processes of social worker AMHPs and unique insight into the phenomenon of overrepresentation of Black service-users in compulsory detention under the MHA.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/WM/0273
Date of REC Opinion
9 Nov 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion