To investigate staff and trainer perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to implementing a complex intervention to help staff support the recovery of service users with a primary diagnosis of psychosis in community mental health teams.Process evaluation nested within a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT).28 interviews with mental health care staff, 3 interviews with trainers, 4 focus groups with intervention teams and 28 written trainer reports.14 community-based mental health teams in two UK sites (one urban, one semi-rural) who received the intervention.The factors influencing the implementation of the intervention can be organised under two over-arching themes: Organisational readiness for change and Training effectiveness. Organisational readiness for change comprised three sub-themes: NHS Trust readiness; Team readiness; and Practitioner readiness. Training effectiveness comprised three sub-themes: Engagement strategies; Delivery style and Modelling recovery principles.Three findings can inform future implementation and evaluation of complex interventions. First, the underlying intervention model predicted that three areas would be important for changing practice: staff skill development; intention to implement; and actual implementation behaviour. This study highlighted the importance of targeting the transition from practitioners' intent to implement to actual implementation behaviour, using experiential learning and target setting. Second, practitioners make inferences about organisational commitment by observing the allocation of resources, Knowledge Performance Indicators and service evaluation outcome measures. These need to be aligned with recovery values, principles and practice. Finally, we recommend the use of organisational readiness tools as an inclusion criteria for selecting both organisations and teams in cluster RCTs. We believe this would maximise the likelihood of adequate implementation and hence reduce waste in research expenditure.Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN02507940.
This research reports on the views of detainees and their carers of their experiences of being detained under Section 136 (S136) of the Mental Health Act 1983. Individual interviews were conducted with 18 detainees and six carers.A semi-structured questionnaire was administered face-to-face to gather qualitative data, which was analysed using a grounded theory approach.The results indicated a general dissatisfaction with the quality of care and treatment from both police and professionals. Though several detainees recognized the need for police to be involved, most felt they lacked the skills needed to meet the needs of mentally ill people. Nearly all participants felt that the police station was an inappropriate setting for further assessment, and found their experiences in police cells distressing, making them feel like criminals.Detainees and carers would like to see the provision of a place of safety other than emergency departments or police stations, and this study reinforces the Mental Health Code of Practice 2008 which states that police stations should only be used on an exceptional basis.
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate an eight-week carers group for people with first episode of psychosis receiving services from the Gloucestershire Recovery in Psychosis Early Intervention Team. Potential benefits for carers were assessed including changes in feelings of stress, isolation, recognition, and of being appreciated and valued. Methods: Following completion of the group, all 12 carers participated in an independently facilitated focus group to evaluate the course. Transcripts were imported into the QSR NVivo 8 (QSR International, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia) software package for thematic analysis. An independent coding and correlational analysis of data was used to identify any common themes. Results: Results identified five key themes reported by carers: the emotional impacts of being a carer (loss, grief, guilt, shock, acceptance), the wider impacts of mental illness within a family (isolation, stigma), the caring role and how this affected relationships (improved relationships), the design of the group (barriers, course content, timing of invitations, moving forward) and the wider impacts of participation (carer education, importance of sharing real-life experiences, navigating the National Health Service). Conclusions: Carers reported less isolation, improved confidence, greater understanding of psychosis, reduction in guilt and increased coping in their caring role after the group. Carers reported that they gained new knowledge, obtained support from staff and graduate carers, increased the recognition of their caring role and had improved relationships with their relative with mental illness.
Aims and method To evaluate outcomes for service users during their first year of treatment in three English assertive outreach teams. Changes in health and social functioning, engagement with services, service use and need (rated by staff and service users) were evaluated. Results In 49 service users we found a significant increase in mean staff-rated met needs up to 6 months of treatment. There were no significant changes in ratings of engagement or Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) scores at 6 and 12 months. Unmet needs rated by service users and staff showed a non-significant trend for improvement across a range of individual health and social domains. Duration of hospital admission reduced significantly between the 12 months before the evaluation and the 12 months of the evaluation. Formal and informal admission and levels of contact with crisis teams reduced over the study period. Clinical implications Although these results offer some support to the assertive outreach approach, further research in larger samples is needed to identify which changes in health and social functioning are associated with transfer to assertive outreach teams.
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