Purpose

This study aims to explore service users’ experience of psychological therapy as part of a community sentence with a Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) in Birmingham Courts between January and December 2018.

Design/methodology/approach

All service users that had therapy in this period were telephoned a month after ending and offered a semi-structured telephone interview. Seven service users agreed to be recorded. This data was then transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis to gain a richer understanding of their lived experience.

Findings

Themes identified were: Is the MHTR for me? Opening up, enlightening connections and personal change. Service users initially questioned the relevance and burden of the order for them; the experience of therapy allowed them to trust and talk about things unsaid in the past; this helped them to review and reconsider their understanding of themselves and their life choices and what further support they might need.

Research limitations/implications

Interviews were not completed by an independent interviewer. Experience of working with offender manager supervision additionally available throughout the sentence was not explored.

Practical implications

What is included in the MHTR information and support needs to be informed by the service user’s perspective, including this can improve engagement.

Social implications

Therapy was seen as a “a cog in the machine” and wider social inequalities may need to be addressed within the sentence.

Originality/value

This report focusses on experience of a therapeutic intervention – a key part of a community sentence with an MHTR.

中文翻译：

---

具有精神健康治疗要求 (MHTR) 的社区判决；犯罪者心理治疗体验探析

目的

本研究旨在探讨服务使用者在 2018 年 1 月至 12 月期间在伯明翰法院接受心理治疗作为具有心理健康治疗要求 (MHTR) 的社区判决的一部分的体验。

设计/方法/方法

在此期间接受过治疗的所有服务使用者在结束一个月后都被致电并提供了半结构化的电话采访。七名服务用户同意被记录。然后使用主题分析对这些数据进行转录和分析，以更深入地了解他们的生活经历。

发现

确定的主题是：MHTR 适合我吗？开放、启发性的联系和个人改变。服务用户最初质疑订单对他们的相关性和负担；治疗的经验使他们能够信任并谈论过去未曾说过的事情；这帮助他们回顾和重新考虑他们对自己和他们的生活选择的理解以及他们可能需要什么进一步的支持。

研究限制/影响

采访不是由独立采访者完成的。没有探索在整个句子中额外提供的与罪犯经理监督合作的经验。

实际影响

MHTR 信息和支持中包含的内容需要从服务用户的角度进行了解，包括这可以提高参与度。

社会影响

治疗被视为“机器中的一个齿轮”，可能需要在句子中解决更广泛的社会不平等问题。

原创性/价值

本报告侧重于治疗性干预的经验——具有 MHTR 的社区判决的关键部分。