The experience of service user involvement in risk assessment - V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A grounded theory study looking at the experience relating to service user involvement in risk assessment of inpatients in a medium and low secure psychiatric service in order to guide recommendations on how to target and increase engagement within forensic mental health services.
IRAS ID
202212
Contact name
Kate Law
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Priory Group
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
This study aims to explore the factors that relate to what motivates service user involvement in their risk assessment process with a view to making recommendations that help services target and increase service user involvement in this area.
Currently the minority of service users are actively involved in their risk assessment process. This is in stark contrast to national guidance from The Department of Health who highlight in their ‘Best Practice in Managing Risk Guidelines 2007’ a collaborative approach to involving service users in the risk assessment process. In addition to this, the My Shared Pathway initiative, which is about providing a recovery and outcomes based approach to the care pathway, promotes collaborative approaches to a service user’s care and treatment provided by secure services. Furthermore, recovery approaches emphasise that risk management should be built on the recognition of the service user’s strengths and should emphasise recovery, and this is more likely to be achieved using a collaborative approach.
Involvement in risk assessment is more likely to create conditions where service users can develop trusting therapeutic rapports with their treating teams and embrace change in order to lower their risk. It is therefore, of vital importance for forensic mental health services, service users level of risk and overall recovery of service users to learn how to increase service user involvement in the risk assessment process. Promoting service user involvement and recovery within forensic mental health services can only benefit service users and the public in the long term.
This study will be conducted with service users residing in a forensic mental health hospital located in Surrey. Service users will be asked to participate in a semi-structured interview for up to an hour answering questions about their involvement in their risk assessment process.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0630
Date of REC Opinion
20 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion