{"id":14,"date":"2014-05-06T14:55:57","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T14:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2019-04-18T13:18:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T12:18:59","slug":"executive-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/executive-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Executive Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"
Get the Executive Summary in PDF<\/a><\/p>\n Scottish policy and law underline the importance of supporting family carers and using their knowledge and experience to increase the effectiveness of mental health care and treatment.\u00a0 In particular, the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (MHCT Act), and Caring Together, <\/em>Carers Strategy for Scotland (Scottish Government, 2010), emphasise involvement and participation of carers in mental health services.\u00a0 While there is a growing body of research about carers\u2019 experiences generally, the needs and experience of those who support individuals in forensic (secure) mental health services (forensic carers) have been neglected.\u00a0 Support in Mind Scotland (SIMS) and the Forensic Network thus commissioned this independent study to examine what they identified as \u2018significant gaps and inconsistencies\u2019, focusing in particular on the views and experiences of forensic carers.<\/p>\n The study aimed to provide evidence about:<\/p>\n In addition to gathering information from carers about their experiences and views, the study has gathered information from forensic mental health services about existing support, as well as about access and uptake.<\/p>\n The study used a range of mainly qualitative methods, and an appreciative or capacities approach, in gathering information about the aims and objectives including:<\/p>\n All forensic mental health services across Scotland were surveyed, achieving a response rate of 79%, with varying levels of response across different parts of Scotland and the State Hospital.\u00a0 Sixty six responses were received from family carers or friends to an online and paper questionnaire, and 19 individual carers were interviewed face-to-face.<\/p>\n In summary, the survey of forensic mental health services\u2019 perspectives of carer support found:<\/p>\n The survey and interviews with carers resulted in the following key messages about the experience of being a forensic carer:<\/p>\n The survey and interviews with carers resulted in the following key findings about forensic carers\u2019 experience of support:<\/p>\n In considering the issue of carer support from the perspective of both services and carers, this study has attempted to explain the identified discrepancies in service delivery.\u00a0 Examples of good practice in the support of carers were noted throughout the study, and these included investment in information exchange, carer support or development workers, carer support groups and behavioural family therapy.\u00a0 However, a significant finding was that carer support is inconsistent across Scotland and within some units, and secondly that the reasons for low uptake of available support are understood differently by staff and carers.\u00a0 Staff identified carer choice as a main reason for this, whereas carers identified a number of access barriers.<\/p>\n From carers\u2019 perspective the most important change that can be made is for staff to perceive carers as important to engage with, with needs of their own, as effective allies in a triangle of care, and relate to them consistently in a welcoming and respectful manner.\u00a0 The increased emphasis in health and social care policy on the importance of supporting and involving carers needs to become widespread practice.\u00a0 The fact that carers can attest to the benefits of such an approach suggests that this is achievable in forensic settings without compromising confidentiality or risk management.\u00a0 While there is good practice, the most pressing issue would seem to be the need to increase the range and spread of support, and to address the current inconsistent and patchy provision of carer support.<\/p>\n As a minimum, we underline the importance of the following general recommendations from the Triangle of Care<\/em>:<\/p>\n To meet the specialist needs of forensic carers in Scotland, we further recommend:<\/p>\n Get the Executive Summary in PDF Background Scottish policy and law underline the importance of supporting family carers and using their knowledge and experience to increase the effectiveness of mental health care and treatment.\u00a0 In particular, the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (MHCT Act), and Caring Together, Carers Strategy for Scotland (Scottish … Continue reading Executive Summary<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.researchunbound.org.uk\/forensic-mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Background<\/h2>\n
Purpose of Study<\/h2>\n
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Methods<\/h2>\n
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Samples<\/h2>\n
Key Findings<\/h2>\n
Forensic mental health services\u2019 perspective<\/h3>\n
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Experience of being a forensic carer<\/h2>\n
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Forensic carers\u2019 experience of support<\/h2>\n
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Conclusions<\/h2>\n
Recommendations<\/h2>\n
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