Women's Centre Trauma Intervention study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Effectiveness of Women’s Centres in England and Wales project: Women’s Centre Intervention study
IRAS ID
334308
Contact name
Simon Pemberton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research studies have identified a number of pathways that women take into the criminal justice system One of the main drivers for offending for criminal justice involved women is through trauma and abuse (Brennan et al, 2012).
Interventions and services for criminal justice involved women in England are few and far between. This population tend to present with a high trauma need, but not so severe that they require a named community mental health team, such as for psychosis or schizophrenia. As a result, for these women, ‘Treatment as usual’ tends to be referral to Psychologists in the NHS, which has typically long waiting lists with no intermediary support. Women’s Centres attempt to address this gap between services in trauma support for these women. This pathway will address the clients’ trauma with an aim to reduce mental health symptoms, as well as examining what impact the course has on the clients’ risk of further involvement in the criminal justice system, compared to a Centre who offer standard NHS treatment (treatment as usual).
We will use an observational study design to investigate two trauma pathways across two Women’s Centres. Women will be referred to a trauma intervention pathway by their caseworker and various measures, such as mental health, PTSD and anger, will evaluate short and long term impact of the intervention using the WRNA. Participants will be compared to a matched comparison group from a Women’s centre site which uses the WRNA but does not carry out trauma interventions. We will also request data linkage at 12-18 months post intervention to investigate 12 month recidivism post intervention.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EE/0090
Date of REC Opinion
23 May 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion