Experiences of clinical psychologists as 'Responsible Clinicians'
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The experiences of clinical psychologists as 'Approved Clinicians' in the role of 'Responsible Clinicians'
IRAS ID
272986
Contact name
Joanna Adebayo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christ Church University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The 2007 amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983 allowed non-medics to act as ‘Responsible Clinician' for the overall care of service users detained under the Act. Clinical psychologists and other registered professionals who have completed their training and have been state sanctioned to act as an ‘Approved Clinician’, may be allocated to specific service users as the Responsible Clinician. Between 2007 and 2017, only 56 non-medics had become Approved Clinicians (approximately 39 non-medics are clinical psychologists) (Department of Health, 2017). Within the role of Responsible Clinician, responsibilities include renewing detention and granting and revoking leave of absence (National Institute for Mental Health in England, 2008).
Previous research has explored non-medics motivations for becoming an Approved Clinician and the facilitators and barriers in obtaining it (Ebrahim, 2018; Oates et al. 2018). An area that has not been sufficiently addressed is the experiences of Approved Clinicians in practice, particularly in the role of Responsible Clinician. Therefore, there is a need for qualitative studies to provide an in-depth understanding of the experiences of Approved Clinicians in carrying out the role of Responsible Clinician. This may help to provide an awareness of what this experience is like for non-medics. Additionally, previous research has focused on multi-professional Approved Clinicians, rather than the experiences of specific professional groups. The proposed study aims to provide insight into the experiences of Clinical Psychologist Approved Clinicians in the role of Responsible Clinician.
The aim is to interview between 8 to 10 Clinical Psychologists who have been a Responsible Clinician for at least 6 months. Interviews (which will last up to 90 minutes) will take place on NHS sites or Skype/Zoom. NHS sites where interviews will take place will depend on where Responsible Clinicians in England that are recruited are based.REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A