How do professionals experience working with offenders diagnosed with personality disorder within a prison environment?

Abstract

Aims: To explore the different experiences of a MultiDisciplinary Team working with offenders diagnosed with Personality Disorder (PD) and produce a substantive model of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway strategy from a staff perspective. Method: Fourteen participants were recruited from 'Unit A' located within a high security prison. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and the data collected were analysed using constructivist grounded theory. Results: A model was constructed depicting the experiences of those working with offenders with PD. Main themes identified were: prison environment; synergy of the workforce; understanding of the client; individual perceptions; support; and personal change. Although there was enough similarity within the participants' responses to consider them to be a homogenous population, there were some noticeable differences in trends of responses evident between the two subgroups of health service based clinical staff and prison staff as expressed in the model.

Prison officers’ experiences of key-working with women living in a psychologically informed planned environment (PIPE)

“…PIPE units have been highlighted to increase psychological awareness, which in turn can raise awareness of staff's own vulnerabilities or internal struggles (Brown, 2014). This acknowledgement of unexpected personal growth, in which therapeutic prison work has had an influence on the officers' actions and behaviours outside of the job, is replicated in previous research (Cooke et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2018). A further characterisation of this theme was the rewarding nature of the key-worker role.…”

“…The joint-working sub-theme demonstrated how clinicians supported officer’s knowledge and understanding of their key-worker roles. A clinician and officer co-working in this way has previously demonstrated to be effective within the male OPD pathway, in which different perspectives and further understanding of these men in custody were gained (Cooke et al. , 2017).…”

The prevalence of mental health difficulties in a sample of prisoners in Trinidadian prisons referred for anger management

“…In western countries, there have been significant efforts to both divert people with mental health problems from prison (Kane et al , 2017) and develop therapeutic environments within prison settings to support the treatment of the mental health difficulties experienced by offenders (e.g. Cooke et al , 2017).…”

“The People Who Leave Here Are Not the People Who Arrived.”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Therapeutic Process and Identity Transition in the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway

“…This overall aim is achieved through: (1) reducing serious violent and sexual reoffending, (2) improving psychological health, wellbeing, prosocial behavior and relational outcomes, (3) improving competence, confidence and attitudes of staff, and (4) increasing efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality of services (NOMS, 2015). A key objective of the pathway is to “provide a consistent and cohesive process of individuals transitioning through a range of different criminal justice and perhaps forensic health interventions from custody to the community” (Cooke et al, 2017, p. 6).…”

“…However, despite some success, the government decommissioned the DSPD initiative in 2011, rebadging it as the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway (NOMS, 2015;O'Loughlin, 2019). The OPD pathway aimed to provide interventions for a greater number of individuals (NOMS, 2015;O'Loughlin, 2019), incorporating lessons learnt from the DSPD pilots and guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Cooke et al, 2017;Skett et al, 2017).…”