Audit of the referrals to the psychology section of a mentally disordered offenders team

Abstract

There is increasing recognition that, wherever clinically appropriate, the needs of mentally disordered offenders should be met by health and social services rather than the criminal justice system (Cohen & Eastman, 1997). Many trusts now make separate service provision for this client group, but there has been little research into the role of applied psychology in these services. This study consists of an exploratory audit of the referrals to applied psychology in a multidisciplinary mentally disordered offenders team. Client characteristics as well as referral characteristics were explored. One of the main results of the audit was that clients referred for outpatient groups (who were not normally known to the team prior to referral) had significantly higher rates of non‐attendance and drop‐out than clients referred for other reasons. Outpatients in general also had higher rates of non‐attendance and dropout than inpatients. The main conclusion of this study is that applied psychology resources may be best used in the provision of services to clients known to the team and that, as inpatient work may be more productive, it should perhaps be the priority for psychologists working with this client group.

Citation

Harman, R. and Dalton, R. (2005), "Audit of the referrals to the psychology section of a mentally disordered offenders team", The British Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 15-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636646200500010