EMBEDDING PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING INTO PROBATION PRACTICE Dr Clare Mapplebeck Clinical Psychologist Offender Pathway Development Service

Aims of Presentation To compare the qualitative data from case vignettes completed by probation officers both before and after training To discuss these findings in relation to current research To provide my initial reflections from the training

Context Workforce development is a key part of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (Joseph & Benefield, 2012) A significant part of the Yorkshire and Humberside Personality Disorder Project is the development of probation officers knowledge and capacity to work with offenders with Personality Disorder Developed a training model which builds on KUF Awareness training Train semi-specialist probation officers 6 days of training Orientation to the project (nationally and locally) Theoretical knowledge (attachment and schema) Formulation skills (structured model)

Research Questions Interested in whether there have been changes in the following: Knowledge and understanding (PDKASQ) Whether the training has been useful and/or enhanced practice (bespoke evaluation measure) Are there changes in how probation officers approach cases following the 6 days of training

Method Participants Based on data from 21 Probation officers Design Brief case vignette (pre/post training) Asked two questions: What would you like to know more about? What would you want to focus on? Analysis Thematic analysis applied to the probation officers responses

Thematic Analysis Map Q1 – What would you want to know more about? Family Intimate PO Relationships Trauma Behaviour Understanding Emotional World Core Beliefs Childhood Protective Offending Substance Misuse Current Behaviour

Q1 - Relationships Relationship with Probation Officer This theme was unique to post-training, though only a small number of people discussed this “what will he need from me to be able to talk about relationships (safety)”

Q1 - Childhood Trauma Both groups discussed this, but many more responses post training Understanding Emotional World Main theme for post training responses, only a small number discussed this pre training – greater focus on feelings and sense making Core Beliefs More responses post training with also a greater breadth of knowledge about core beliefs “his experience of care” “How he feels about childhood experiences” “what does he think/feel about the world and other people?”

Thematic Analysis Map Q2 – What would you want to focus on? Family Intimate PO Relationships Trauma Link btw Past & Present Attachment Childhood Hopes & Expectations TriggersFunction Core Beliefs Coping Strategies Emotional World

Q2 - Relationships Intimate Relationships Smaller number of responses pre training compared to post training. Pre training responses mainly descriptive, post training responses great and focussed on his understanding of relationships and how he deals with issues in relationships Relationship with Probation Officer More responses post training, compared to pre training – greater depth to answers post training “Firstly making sessions safe…enough to be able to talk to him about what’s been going on...”, “How he would deal with issues in relationships”

Q2 - Childhood Attachment This theme was unique to post-training and focussed on ‘John’s’ attachment style Trauma Both groups discussed this, but more responses and questions were richer in detail post training “…his attachment styles etc. How this perhaps triggers his violence” “The changes in relationships following his father’s death. His own attitudes to his family following this”,

Summary Overall, post training responses for both questions were more frequent and demonstrated greater depth to their answers Noticed an increased use of psychological words – (attachment, schemas, purpose of behaviour etc.) More questions interested in exploring ‘John’s’ early trauma and emotional world Greater focus on the relationship with Probation Officer

Discussion The analysis would indicate that following the training, there were some changes in how probation officers approached the case vignette The results (both pre and post training) reflect the themes that are thought be to effective for good case formulation (Brown et al, 2013) However, those probation officers who were more psychologically minded may have been more inclined to finish the training (or elect to start), which may have impacted on the responses Future research may benefit from revisiting the vignette with the same probation officers to see whether the psychological ideas and principles are truly embedded in probation practice

Initial Reflections Probation officers find the training useful and the themes would indicate that it suits their usual practice (whilst possibly broadening their focus and understanding) Some probation officers were still looking for ‘answers’ and struggled with ‘not knowing’ Making interpretations about an individual and ‘being with’ rather than ‘doing’ were also tensions felt by probation officers Risk/offending was still important pre and post training! Would consider the delivery of training in a more experiential way

References Brown, S., Hedges, L., Patel, G., Duggan, C., & Vollm, B. (2013). The development of a case formulation training package for probation staff. European Psychiatry: Abstracts of the 21st European Congress of Psychiatry, 28(S1). DOI: (13) http://dx.doi.org/ /S (13) Joseph, N. & Benefield, N. (2012). A joint offender personality disorder pathway strategy: An outline summary. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 22(3), 210–217.