Mental health outcomes for those who have offended and have been given a Mental Health Treatment Requirement as part of a Community Order in England and Wales

IF 1.1 4区医学 Q3 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Pub Date : 2023-09-23 DOI:10.1002/cbm.2312

Matthew Callender, Greta Arancia Sanna, Kathryn Cahalin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Growing evidence of mental disorders among people going through the criminal justice system suggests the potential benefit of courts adding a Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) when sentencing an offender to a Community Order (sentence) in England and Wales. Although available since 2003, MHTRs have not been widely used, and there is little evidence on outcomes.

Aim

To conduct the first large-scale evaluation of mental health outcomes of people with an MHTR as part of their community sentence across multiple sites in England and Wales.

Methods

Data were collected from 14 sites in England and Wales about individuals who were given an MHTR as part of a community sentence. They were assessed before and after this. During the MHTR, they received a psychotherapeutic intervention by assistant psychologists in a primary care framework. Measures of psychological distress (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation—Outcome Measure), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire) were completed before the MHTR was implemented and after completion.

Results

Where paired sample t-tests and Wilcoxon signed ranked tests were used, with samples ranging between 309 and 447 individuals, clinically significant changes were obtained for all measures. Most individuals (63%) were identified as experiencing a reliable change in at least two out of the three scales. Finally, a negative linear relationship, between measures at the start of the intervention and reliable change, was identified with higher pre-measures, indicating that more initial distress, anxiety and/or depression were associated with more sizeable changes.

Conclusions

This paper provides the first substantial evidence in support of the MHTR within a primary mental healthcare framework as an effective pathway to reduce mental health problems among individuals under probation supervision as part of a sentence after conviction for a criminal offence. This supports the expansion of the provision across England and Wales. Future research should take account of the non-completers and explore the relationship between the MHTR, mental health improvements and reoffending.

查看原文本刊更多论文

作为英格兰和威尔士社区令的一部分，那些被冒犯并被给予心理健康治疗要求的人的心理健康结果。

背景：越来越多的证据表明，在英格兰和威尔士，通过刑事司法系统的人中存在精神障碍，这表明法院在对罪犯判处社区令时增加精神健康治疗要求（MHTR）的潜在好处。尽管MHTR自2003年以来一直可用，但尚未得到广泛使用，而且几乎没有关于结果的证据。目的：在英格兰和威尔士的多个地点对作为社区判决一部分的MHTR患者的心理健康结果进行首次大规模评估。在此之前和之后对其进行了评估。在MHTR期间，他们在初级保健框架内接受了助理心理学家的心理治疗干预。在实施MHTR之前和完成之后，完成心理困扰（常规评估结果测量中的临床结果）、焦虑（广泛性焦虑障碍-7）和抑郁（患者健康问卷）的测量。结果：在使用配对样本t检验和Wilcoxon符号排序检验的情况下，样本范围在309至447人之间，所有测量都获得了临床显著变化。大多数个体（63%）在三个量表中至少有两个量表出现了可靠的变化。最后，干预开始时的测量值和可靠的变化之间存在负线性关系，预测量值越高，表明更多的初始痛苦、焦虑和/或抑郁与更大的变化相关。结论：本文提供了第一个实质性证据，支持在初级心理健康框架内实施MHTR，作为减少缓刑监督下个人心理健康问题的有效途径，作为刑事犯罪定罪后判刑的一部分。这支持在英格兰和威尔士扩大这一规定。未来的研究应该考虑到未完成者，并探索MHTR、心理健康改善和再犯之间的关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Multiple-

CiteScore

1.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health – CBMH – aims to publish original material on any aspect of the relationship between mental state and criminal behaviour. Thus, we are interested in mental mechanisms associated with offending, regardless of whether the individual concerned has a mental disorder or not. We are interested in factors that influence such relationships, and particularly welcome studies about pathways into and out of crime. These will include studies of normal and abnormal development, of mental disorder and how that may lead to offending for a subgroup of sufferers, together with information about factors which mediate such a relationship.