Post on 26-Dec-2015
“
Mental Health Research:
What are the risks of that happening?
Professor Paul RogersProfessor of Forensic NursingFaculty of Health, Sports and Science
Aim
Give a rough overview of my career.
Present two examples of research which examines the evidence base examining mental health and the issue of “risk” of violence.
Of note, these are areas where the “evidence” or the “clinical practice” had already been very firmly established. So there was “no need” to do the research!!!
Available to download from - http://office.research.glam.ac.uk/
Forensic (psychiatric) Nursing
Forensic – pertaining to the law
Nursing ........those who by the nature of their health condition are likely to come into contact with the legal / criminal justice system.
Historically related to mental health
Offenders of Crime (UK)
Victims of Crime (USA)
P H IS Y C
Why Psychiatric Nursing? Nature versus Nurture
Mother and Father are Psychiatric Nurses.
My Father was the eldest of 9 siblings, of whom 7 became psych nurses
My mother has one sister who is a psych nurse
My Maternal Grandmother was one of the first ever Registered Psychiatric Nurses in Ireland (Kilkenny).
= Psychiatric nurse gene??!
PaulRogers
EddieRogers
MargaretRogers
SeanRogers
MaryRogers
(Grennan)
Oliver Monica Joe Bernadette Gabriel Mary Jimmy Frank
MargaretFitzgerald(Brennan)
TomFitzgerald
AllisonRogers
(Farrelly)
My background - Is there a gene for “psychiatric nursing”?
I was told that I had to do …………………………………………………………………………………………………“the obligatory baby photos”!
The obligatory baby snapshot!!!
TO INSERT
Early career
Aged 16. Tomato picking, Southport
Aged 16. Psychiatric Nursing Home, Southport
Aged 17. General Nursing Home, Southport
Aged 17. GNC Nursing entrance test – Park Lane Hospital
Aged 18. Student Psychiatric Nurse – Fairfield Hospital, Beds
Fairfield Hospital, Bedfordshire
Fairfield Hospital
Opened in 1860 - Three Counties Asylum (Beds., Bucks., Herts.)
350 Acres
In 1986 had 63 wards; All were full with a patient population in excess of 2000
Approximately 25% of Wards were “locked”
Most Secure Ward = M8 Ward
M8 Ward
36 bedded Male Ward (mostly from Bedford Prison)
Four staff
18 Seclusion rooms
Fairfield Hospital – In short
Met Allison
Practices were “staff focussed”
Control & Restraint training
Why wasn’t violence “predicted”
How are things “prevented”
What is Psychiatric nursing?
National Brain Injury Unit
Aged 21 (1989) – Staff Nurse - National Brain Injury Rehab Service, St Andrew’s Hospital, Northampton
Applied Behaviourism
15 minute token economy programme
Time Out for Aggression & Ind. Programmes
Last ward in the UK to use “Food” as a “reinforcer”
Moving to a culture of “positive programmes”
Became a Home Office “approved” Control and Restraint Instructor
Caswell Clinic, Bridgend & District NHS Trust
Aged 23 – Charge NurseIntensive Care Unit, Caswell Clinic, Interim Medium Secure Unit
“Humanistic approaches”
No seclusion roomsCare was focussed through the Nursing Care Plans
At that time - No real “Risk assessment”
Cert ENB 650 Course
Cert ENB 650 - 99 Denmark Hill, Maudsley Hospital
Cert ENB 650 - 99 Denmark Hill, Maudsley Hospital
● 18 month, Full time course; we were Course 15● Started in 1971, National Referral Centre● Clinical Director - Prof Isaac Marks● Trained nurses to deliver Behaviour Therapy● Previous Students – Prof Kevin Gournay, Prof Charlie Brooker
● 1n 1994 - Approx 12 National Training places● “De-constructed” what we did and then ++ training● Treated out-patients (OCD, PTSD, Agoraphobia, Social Phobias,
Habit Disorders, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Specific phobias)
● The Single Case Study Experimental Design
The Single Case Study Experimental Design
Caswell Clinic - The Single Case Study
Experimental DesignAged 28 (1995) returned to the Caswell Clinic - CNS in CBT
Rogers, P. (1997). Posttraumatic stress disorder following male rape. Journal of Mental Health, 6(1), 5-9.
Rogers, P. and Darnley, S. (1997). Self-monitoring, competing response and response cost in the treatment of trichotillomania. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 25, 281-290.
Rogers, P. & Gronow, T. (1997). Anger Management: Turn down the heat. Nursing Times, 93(3), 26-29.
Rogers, P., Gray, N.S., Williams, T. & Kitchener, N.J. (2000). The behavioural treatment of PTSD in a perpetrator of manslaughter. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 13, 511-519.
.
Clinically
CBT – seeing two main sets of clients
1. Males with horrendous personal histories who developed PTSD
2. Those with “command hallucinations” who had acted on their commands with very serious consequences
The psychiatric research at that time reported that Command hallucinations were NOT dangerous (either suicide / violence)!
Preliminary study – examining command hallucinations and “risks”
We examined whether patients in a Medium Secure Unit were more likely than other clients to:
1. Engage in self harm / suicidal behaviour
2. Engage in violence to others
Main issues that we found were 1. What about the “content” of the command & 2. What about possible confounding
Rogers, P., Watt, A., Gray, N.S., MacCulloch, MM & Gournay, K. (2002) Content of command hallucinations predicts self harm but not violence in a medium secure unit. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 13(2), 251-262.
PhD - The Association between Command Hallucinations and Violence
1999 - PhD The Association between Command
Hallucinations and Violence
Full time funded PhD – Wales Office of Research and Development
Undertook PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry with Professors Kevin Gournay and Professor Graham Thornicroft as supervisors
Advisors – Professor Nicola Gray, Cardiff University and Professor Glyn Lewis, Bristol University
Command Hallucinations
“Command hallucinations are auditory hallucinations that order particular acts,
often violent or destructive ones and instruct a patient to act in
a certain manner”
(Hellerstein et al, 1987)
Command hallucinations and risk
By the mid 90’s, UK policy / politicians had tasked forensic and mental health practitioners to improve risk assessment and management
In the past 60 years, international research has examined the associations between 1. Diagnosis and 2. Symptoms of mental disorder and violence.
No strong association between diagnosis and violence
Some positive associations found for delusions and violence
No association found for command hallucinations
Clinical Wisdom
Clinical wisdom from the past 70 years has assumed and directed that command hallucinations are associated with and lead to violence.
Bleuler, E. (1930). Textbook of Psychiatry (trans A.A. Brill), New York, Macmillan.
Schneider, K. (1959) Clinical Psychopathology. New York. Stratton.
Real World experiences
The research just didn’t make sense!!
Clinically, we had encountered many people who report having been violent as a direct result of hearing command hallucinations.
Personal experience = high proportion of clients in forensic services report command hallucinations.
Many of the patients in the homicide inquiries had command hallucinations
Numerous Case Reports
Violence to others (Good, 1997)Self amputation of a limb (Hall et al, 1981)Swallowing objects (Karp et al, 1991)Plucking out own eyes (Field & Waldfogel, 1995)Self inflicted lacerations (Rowan & Malone, 1997)Suicide (Zisook et al, 1995)
Command Hallucinations & Violence (Pre-2000)
By year 1999, 7 controlled studies had found NO relationship between command hallucinations and an increased risk of violence
Therefore, 3 systematic reviews had also found NO relationship between command hallucinations and an increased risk of violence
Clinical wisdom or “psychiatric myth”
Have psychiatric practitioners and services been unnecessarily detaining people due to a 70 year old “myth” about the association between command hallucinations and violence?
Bleuler, E. (1930). Textbook of Psychiatry (trans A.A. Brill), New York, Macmillan.
Time for some critical appraisal
• None of the studies were prospective.
• Research evidence was based upon a total population of 237!
• Only 13% of cases had reported commands directing violence
Study examples
Study Sample size
Command content
Hellerstein et al, (1987)
58 30 suicide7 self-harm3 homicide8 non violent acts 10 unspecified
Zisook et al, (1995)
46 20 violent (self/others) 19 benign 7 unspecified
Trying to make sense of the “evidence”
Are the pre-2000 studies that found no association accurate ???
or …...................
Could they possibly be misleading Clinicians into discharging people who “may” be a risk?
SECONDARY ANALYSES OF THE MACARTHUR VIOLENCE
RISK ASSESSMENT DATA
Research grant provided by the Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social
Care (S98/004)
Research Questions
• Are violent-content command hallucinations associated with 1yr FU violence compared with all other patients?
• What happens to the association if we examine those with non-violent content command hallucinations?
SampleSecondary data epidemiological analysis of the
MacArthur Violence Risk Study Data
Largest worldwide study of its kind which used multiple methods for determining whether violence occurred after discharge
1,136 patients were randomly selected from 12,873 patients who were admitted to any of three large US hospitals
Patients followed up every 10 weeks for 1 year
Outcome Measure: Violence
All participants were followed up every 10 weeks for 1-year after discharge
Subject self-reportsCollateral informant reportsOfficial arrest recordsHospital admitting incident chart information Rehospitalisation records
All violent incidents were systematically reviewed, independently coded and a decision was made as to whether it occurred
Exposure: Command Hallucinations
THE AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS SCHEDULE
Have you more than once had the experience of hearing things or voices other people couldn't hear?
Do the voices tell you to do anything?
What is the highest level of violence they have commanded?
This allowed us to categories commands in to two groups: - violent or non violent
Adjusted confounders
Age GenderMarital status EthnicityBeaten as a child Beaten as a teenagerHistory of drug abuse History of alcohol abuseSeverity of symptoms (BPRS) Impulsivity (BIS)Any delusions Persecutory delusionsPsychopathy (PCL:SV)Living with relative post discharge Prior arrests for “crimes against the person”
Statistical Analysis
Random-effects, repeated measures, logistic regression
Unadjusted and then adjusted Odds ratios -adjusted for time, and a range of confounders (with 95% C.I.’s)
Odds ratios:Anything above “1” = an increased risk of
violence.
Anything below “1” = a reduced risk of violence
Results
The words - “all your eggs”
and...............
“one basket” - spring to mind!
Proportion who had a violent incident over 1 yr
Unadjusted OR (95% C.I.)
Fully adjusted (time and confounders) OR (95% C.I.)
All others(Reference group) (n=887)
26.7% (199/745) 1.00 1.00
Non-violent content command hallucinations (n=125)
23.9% (26/109) 0.87 (0.53-1.41)
0.66 (0.37-1.16)
Violent content command hallucinations (n=105)
44.4% (36/81) 2.03 (1.25-1.30)
1.86 (1.09-3.18)
.005 .05 .0001
Conclusions
There was good evidence that violent-content command hallucinations were associated with future violent incidents both before and after adjustment for confounding.
There was no evidence that any-content command hallucinations were associated with future violent incidents either before or after adjustment for confounding.
Real world implications
We need to consider the content of command hallucinations when making decisions about future violence risk
We need to trust our clinical “uncertainty”
We need to critically appraise the quality of research when making conclusions about their findings
What training are staff getting regarding risk assessments and the evidence base???
MRC Post Doctoral Fellowship
2002. Left the NHS for University Life! And properly joined the Section of Nursing, Health Service Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College.
Professor Kevin Gournay, Dr Sue Plummer, Dr Richard Gray, Dr Mark Haddad, Jimmy Noak, Edwin Gwenzie, et al.
Awarded £220,000 by the Medical Research Council to conduct secondary analysis of two cross sectional surveys in order to investigate the aetiology of high rates of psychiatric morbidity and suicidal thoughts among prisoners. MRC Special Training Fellowship (Health Services Research and Public Health). (2002-2006).
Post Doc / University of GlamorganInvolved in a range of studies:
Connolly A, Rogers P, Taylor D. (2007). Antipsychotic prescribing quality and ethnicity: a study of hospitalized patients in south east London. Maudsley Hospital (£60,000)
£34,000 study from the National Programme on Forensic Mental Health Research & Development. Assessing the utility of the Offenders Group Reconviction Scale-2 in predicting the risk of reconviction within 2 & 4 years of discharge from English & Welsh Medium Secure Units. (2004-06).
Amos, T., et al. A review of forensic and prison reviews. (£35,000). The National Programme for Forensic Mental Health Research, Department of Health. (2005-2006).
Harrison, G. et al. The DEBIT Trial (A Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial to reduce anti-psychotic polypharmacy (£430,000). Funded by an NHS Regional R&D grant (2000-2005).
Developed a bid to WAG for £90,000 to set up WARRN through the NHS
Current main research interest
Main theme / My main interest
● Examining issues related to imminent or real violence.
● What does one actually do in these circumstances?
● Linked to my earlier experiences on “M8” ward at Fairfield Hospital and my “Control and Restraint” Instructor training
Latest Research Findings on “Breakaway” training
We know that violence to healthcare staff is a major
problem
Front Page World
UK
UK Politics
Business Sic/Tech
Health
Education
SHOCKING NHS VIOLENCE FIGURES RELEASED (2002)
The NHS executive has reported upon a national cross sectional survey and found that in the last year there were 65 000 violentincidents reported against staff in the NHS.
Healthcare & Violence
Scottish Health Service Management Executive (1996)Royal College of Psychiatrists (1998)NHS Executive (2000)Nursing & Midwifery Council (2001)NHS Security Management Service (2001)National Audit Office (2003)World Health Organization (2003)Welsh Assembly Government (2004)National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2005)National Institute for Mental Health England (2005)Wales Audit Office (2005)
Protecting NHS staff from V&A – Welsh violence data
8,000 incidents of violence and aggression, in Welsh NHS Trusts = 22 incidents per day (2003-04 )
Mental Health staff most likely to be assaulted, followed by Learning Disability then A+E
Cost due to consequences of violence or investment in training- £6.3 million in (03-04)
Lets recommend “breakaways”
Scottish Health Service Management Executive (1996)Royal College of Psychiatrists (1998)NHS Executive (2000)United Kingdom Central Council (1999)Nursing & Midwifery Council (2001)NHS Security Management Service (2001)Welsh Assembly Government (2004)National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2005)National Institute for Mental Health England (2005)
Welsh Assembly Government - Passport scheme
Breakaway training must be available to all employees who require it
Aims of breakaway training - To provide practical techniques enabling breakaway from violent/aggressive situations
History of breakaway training
“Breakaway training” is a part of the wider “Control & Restraint training” (from Ju Jitsu)
Home Office adoption for Prison Service in 1981
4 UK High Secure Hospitals 1985 onwardsCascaded downwards
Breakaway refresher training
Scotland - 1 yearEngland - 1 yearNorthern Ireland - 1 year
Wales - 2 years!!!!
Examples of breakaways
Breaking away from …..
Wrist grabBear hugs Hair pull“Standing up” Strangle / neck locks Clothes grab
What is the evidence base supporting
“breakaway training”?
NICE Guidelines/ systematic review
5 UK studies which attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of breakaway training in mental health
Only one found any difference; that staff felt satisfied and slightly more confident as a result of the training
(Southcott, et. al. (2002).
Study 1 – Do staff recall their breakaway training?
An opportunistic sample of 47 nurses in a MSU
We would expect these 47 nurses to be able to breakaway from holds as the service they work within holds the most dangerous psychiatric patients in Wales.
Do staff recall their breakaway training?
Nurses approached on the ward with no warning
Asked to participate in a study evaluating breakaway techniques
Picked one of 6 envelopes which contained a named “hold” (strangle, grab, hair-pull)
Nurse had 10 seconds to prepare
One staff initiated the hold
2 staff recorded time and whether the correct technique was used
Do staff recall their breakaway training?
50 nurses approached / 47 agreed (94%) to take part.
One of the nurses who refused was a “C&R Instructor”
All had had previous breakaway training.
11 staff had received the full breakaway training more than once.
24 had at least one update since their original breakaway training course.
Do staff recall their breakaway training?
Forty percent (19/47) were unable to breakaway within the ten second period.
Of those that did breakaway - 60% did not employ the “correct” breakaway technique.
One of the sample who did not employ the correct technique was one of the Instructor’s
Although violence was a problem within the Clinic, none of the sample (0/47) had used a breakaway technique in the preceding 12 months!!!!!
A big surprise!
Despite exposure to violence (mostly kicks and punches)…NONE of the 47 nurses had needed to use a breakaway technique in the last year!
Maybe this was a weird sample?
St. Andrews Hospital (Northampton) have replicated the study with a larger sample.....
Of 147 healthcare staff only 15% were able to breakaway from a hold within 10 seconds using correct technique.
Is breakaway training sufficient?
Staff just can’t remember it…. But we shouldn’t really be determining the training that staff need until we know more about what the violence that staff have to face actually is…..
What are the realities of NHS Violence?
Problem = Despite the headline news items about NHS Violence, no responsible body is able to provide detailed data on the type of assaults staff face!
Research question = What is the reality of violence to NHS staff??
Study 2
We surveyed all mental health nurses in 2 Welsh NHS Trusts in all clinical areas
Total n = 471
340 from Trust 1121 from Trust 2
Over 75% return rate
Percentage of staff who have had access to breakaway training in last 2 years
Study 2 - ? Assaulted in last 2 years
Some members of staff who did report an assault also reported being subjected to more than one type of assault and experiencing same type of assault on more than one occasion.
Therefore, over the two year period a total of 5866 assaults were reported
This reflects an average of 6.74 assaults per staff member over a 12 month period.
Study 2 - ? Assaulted in last 2 years
However, majority of these assaults were reported by staff working with elderly patients
Elderly = total of 5626, 25.8 assaults per person per 12 months
Adult = total of 207 0.38 assaults per person per 12 months
Study 2 – assaults by type
1 Grabbed (Yes)2 Punched (No)3 Pushed (No)4 Kicked (No)5 Slapped (No)6 Spat at (No)7 Pinched (No)8 Hair pull (Yes)9 Head butt (No)10 Weapon (No)11 Strangle (Yes)12 Other (No)
Breakaway studies - Conclusions
We now have evidence that:
Where nurses are “held” and try to breakaway, they are unlikely to use the correct technique
Even if they could remember all of the correct techniques, it is likely that they won’t actually be able to deal with the majority of NHS violence (blows and strikes)
Therefore, evidence base for “Breakaway training” is poor
Where next?
Large £40,000 funded study into breakaway retention of approx 160 participants
Ensuring that our courses are linked to our research and the evidence we develop – (BSc in Violence Reduction)
Violence Research Group (N=90) – Academics and Clinicians
Inaugural summary
It has been an interesting career thus far; with many excellent influences.
The studies I have most enjoyed are the ones presented – where “wisdom” or practice had already been “established”.
Critical appraisal and knowledge of the real world experiences can lead to the challenge of existing “wisdom” / evidence.
The evidence base for most mental health nursing activity is tenuous due to research funding access and due to design issues
Thank You
perogers@glam.ac.uk