An Ethnography of Home Treatment in Psychiatry
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Ethnography of Home Treatment in Psychiatry
IRAS ID
147818
Contact name
Cameron M. Spence
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Research summary
In the year 2000, partly due to a change in the economic and social perception of the mental health system, the NHS brought about significant changes to the way mental health services are delivered. Part of those changes led to the development of home treatment teams. These home treatment teams provide short term, intensive treatment in the home, in order to shorten or avoid hospitalisation for people with mental health issues. The home treatment teams provide a gatekeeping assessment for every potential person in crisis and as such have become a standard facet of the community mental health service provided by the NHS.
This research seeks to explore the home treatment team and their interaction with mental health service users. In doing so, this research will fill in major gaps in knowledge surrounding the actual clinical practice of home treatment teams. Most of what is known about home treatment teams revolves around the reduction of the use of acute psychiatric beds and their cost effectiveness, with very little knowledge that focuses on clinical practice and service user experience. It’s at the intersection of clinical practice and service user experience where meaningful research can be produced on how home treatment effects the service users understanding of themselves and their illness.
Over the course of nine months the researcher will accompany a home treatment team, observing and participating in the treatment of service users. Through participant observation, informal and formal interviews, and focus groups, this study will explore home treatment through the experiences of service users and team members. In doing so, it will describe and analyze how home treatment team members, service users and the space in which treatment is carried out, come to define and redefine the service users lived experiences and the clinical practices of home treatment teams.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0839
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion