National Probation Service Research Articles

A Systematic Scoping Review of Measures of the Quality of Health and Social Care for Adults in the Criminal Justice System: Learning for the Probation Service.

We conducted a systematic scoping review to identify quality indicators, guidelines or standards measuring the quality of health or social care for adult criminal justice populations that were relevant to probation practice. Seventeen papers were included, and measures were categorised by how they were developed, which national probation service health and social care strategy objectives they relate to, type of measures, and what is measured. We aimed to identify existing indicators that may support improvements in the health of people on probation and the care that they receive, and to share any insights around developing and introducing such indicators in practice.

Sentencing: New trajectories in law By E.A.O.Freer, Abingdon: Routledge. 2021. pp. 131. £44.99 (hbk); pp. 146. £16.99 (pbk). ISBN: 9780067862619; 9781032063027

Sentencing: New trajectories in law By E.A.O.Freer, Abingdon: Routledge. 2021. pp. 131. £44.99 (hbk); pp. 146. £16.99 (pbk). ISBN: 9780067862619; 9781032063027

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis on the Experience of Probation Officers in Managing People With Antisocial Personality Disorder.

People who are managed by the National Probation Service and convicted of high risk offences will often meet criteria for antisocial personality disorder and have complex psychosocial needs; this group of people present with high risk behavior which may professionals have been reluctant to work with in the past who are associated with higher rates of recidivism. This study investigated the experiences of probation officers in managing people who meet the criteria for Anti Social Personality Disorder. Semi structured interviews were conducted with six participants to capture their experiences of working with this population, the challenges they faced, and coping mechanisms employed, through analysis using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes were identified which revealed participants internal feeling, strategies employed, and external challenges. They spoke about internal negative feelings, specifically feeling controlled, having mistrust, a lack of confidence, being overwhelmed with emotion, and experiencing a fear of risk behaviors. Other themes involved external pressures as well as different coping responses. Implications are discussed to help probation officers to understand this population, for the organization to support staff to work with challenging behaviors and prevent burn out, to enable positive outcomes, and for potentially reducing reoffending.

‘A nice idea but....’: Implementing a reflective supervision model in the National Probation Service in England and Wales

ABSTRACT Despite significant research and literature relating to the role of critically reflective practice and staff supervision in ‘helping professions’, there has been less attention given to probation practice. This article addresses this gap by presenting the findings from a study that explores the implementation of a reflective model of staff supervision in the National Probation Service. Utilising a mixed-methods research design including a survey and semi-structured interviews with managers and front-line practitioners, the study sheds light on probation staff's experience of reflective supervision and manager perspectives of implementing the model. Overall, we find that probation staff are supportive of the ethos and underpinning principles of the reflective supervision model. However, our participants raised important barriers to implementation, most notably a lack of time and perceived tension between the managerial and developmental aspects of the supervisor role. We conclude by arguing that the Probation Service needs to address these barriers to enable reflective supervision to realise its potential to protect practitioner emotional well-being, support-positive outcomes for individuals subject to probation intervention and develop practitioner professionalism, empowerment, and autonomy.

Using Anger Management Virtual Reality Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Treat Violent Offenders with Alcohol Dependence in South Korea: A Preliminary Investigation

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) effectively treats impulse/anger attacks and aggressive-impulsive behaviors, frequently conducted concerning domestic violence, among patients with alcohol dependence. CBT combined with virtual reality (VR) is a new and beneficial psychotherapeutic intervention for patients and violent offenders with impulse-anger control problems and alcohol dependence. This clinical study evaluated the effects of the “anger management virtual reality cognitive behavior therapy (AM-VR-CBT)” and motivational interviewing (MI) intervention program on quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) mapping patterns among violent offenders with alcohol dependence (N = 29) in the National Probation Service. A clinical sample of twenty-nine violent offenders with alcohol dependence, who were evaluated and diagnosed with destructive and impulse-control disorders (DICD), underwent AM-VR-CBT combined with MI. The sessions lasted 150 minutes (AM-VR-CBT: 90 min; MI: 60 min) and were conducted twice a week for three weeks (six sessions). The intervention outcomes were measured using advanced QEEG brain mapping and standardized neurocognitive, emotional, and behavioral inventories, including the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RTCQ), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-II (BIS-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-2), and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2), to identify neuro-psycho-physiological changes in violent offenders with alcohol dependence. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used at p < 0.05. The intervention showed significant improvements and healthy behavioral changes related to obsessive drinking thoughts, compulsive drinking behaviors, attentional control, intrinsic motivation, worry, anxiety, depression, impulse-anger control issues, aggressive behaviors, over-control, interpersonal relationships, self-efficacy, self-reflection, self-inhibition, creativity, mental navigation/imagery, and episodic memory retrieval among violent offenders with alcohol dependence. Therefore, the results demonstrate the efficacy of the novel and promising clinical evidence-based implementation of the AM-VR-CBT + MI program intervention for non-invasive neuromodulation and related neuro-psycho-physiological, neurocognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes among violent offenders demonstrating alcohol dependence, impulse-anger control, and aggressive behaviors.

‘I don't like this job in my front room’: Practising probation in the COVID-19 pandemic

The Exceptional Delivery Model for probation practice in England and Wales meant that probation practitioners predominantly worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging and supervising service-users remotely. This article explores the impact of the Exceptional Delivery Model on staff and their practice. We begin by considering how probation practice changed because of the implementation of the Exceptional Delivery Model and the impact that this has had on probation staff. The reality of probation work is brought into perspective when there are children in the home and the demarcation of work and home life is easily blurred, especially when considered through the lens of ‘emotional dirty work’. We then present analysis of interviews with 61 practitioners and managers in the National Probation Service. The interviews were primarily focused on staff wellbeing and emotional labour as opposed to the impact of the pandemic, but participants regularly raised the pandemic in discussions. We focus on three key themes: the challenges of working from home and remote communication, experiences of managing risk through doorstep visits and the spill over of probation work into personal lives. The article concludes by considering what the findings tell us about probation work and potential future implications.

Seeing and believing: Observing desistance-focused practice and enduring values in the National Probation Service

This article focuses on the feasibility of using a desistance-focused approach in the National Probation Service (NPS) in the post-Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) context. Findings are drawn from an exploratory study undertaken in one NPS Division, which used triangulation of three data collection methods: observations of one-to-one supervision sessions, documentary analysis and practitioner focus groups. Findings show that practitioners use elements of a desistance-focused approach, although not exclusively. Values based upon belief in the capacity to change and the need to offer support endure, despite mass organisational upheaval. The article concludes by suggesting that this ‘enduring habitus’ of probation could be an enabler for a desistance-focused approach but instrumentalism in policy and practice is a significant barrier.

Towards a desistance-focused approach to probation supervision for people who have committed Intimate Partner Violence: A digital toolkit pilot study

We analyse practitioner and service user reflections on a digitally enabled toolkit designed to enable desistance-focused conversations within routine probation supervision of men with convictions for Intimate Partner Violence in England and Wales. We explore how to embed inclusive therapeutic service provision within the role of public sector National Probation Service practitioners through the testimony of case managers (N = 9) and people on probation (N = 7). We discuss the strengths and challenges of the approach and its implementation. The findings are discussed in the context of: the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill; the renationalisation of probation; the recovery of probation services following the COVID-19 pandemic; and the emergence of technology that supports desistance.

Dynamic assessment of registered sexual offenders: the national practitioner perspective on the use of the ‘Active risk management System’

ABSTRACT This paper examines police and national probation service (NPS) practitioners’ experiences of utilising a dynamic risk management tool with registered sexual offenders (RSOs) in the community. The Active Risk Management System (ARMS) was designed as a multi-agency tool providing police with a dynamic tool for use with RSOs and the NPS with a sexual offender specific tool to support their original dynamic risk tool OASys (Offender Assessment System). Based on both quantitative and qualitative research with every police force and every NPS division in England and Wales, this paper highlights that despite a comprehensive adoption of ARMS within policing practice, the theoretical benefits of the ARMS tool have unfortunately not been realised. The resource implications of the tool’s utilisation, the different needs and siloed working practices of the police and NPS as well as a staggered implementation of the tool across both agencies has presented challenges for the practical use of ARMS in both single and joint agency offender management.

Offender personality disorder pathway Intensive Intervention Risk Management Service (IIRMS): Barriers to engagement and a vision for the future

As part of the national Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, Intensive Intervention Risk Management Services are commissioned to offer the opportunity for some eligible offenders to access individualised intervention to support their treatment needs, upon their transition from custody to the community (Skett and Lewis, 2019). However, it has previously been acknowledged that psychological services often fail to reach offenders due to a range of potential psycho-social reasons (Byng et al., 2012; NOMS, 2014; Skett et al., 2017). The current study aims to explore National Probation Service (NPS) and National Health Service (NHS) staff perceptions of the Intensive Intervention Risk Management Service (IIRMS), within the Cumbria, North and South Tyneside regions, including their perception of potential barriers to service delivery. Further, areas of improvement that may overcome potential barriers to engagement are discussed and comparisons are made to barriers identified to engagement within other NHS/NPS partnerships pathways; specifically the Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) (NOMS, 2014). Results indicate that the IIRMS is useful. However, a number of staff barriers, service user barriers and barriers within the method and delivery of the service were indicated. Results of the study offer the opportunity for shared learning across the pathway and with other services engaging with the most marginalised offenders within our society.

Mentalization for Offending Adult Males (MOAM): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate mentalization-based treatment for antisocial personality disorder in male offenders on community probation

BackgroundAntisocial personality disorder (ASPD), although associated with very significant health and social burden, is an under-researched mental disorder for which clinically effective and cost-effective treatment methods are urgently needed. No intervention has been established for prevention or as the treatment of choice for this disorder. Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) is a psychotherapeutic treatment that has shown some promising preliminary results for reducing personality disorder symptomatology by specifically targeting the ability to recognize and understand the mental states of oneself and others, an ability that is compromised in people with ASPD. This paper describes the protocol of a multi-site RCT designed to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of MBT for reducing aggression and alleviating the wider symptoms of ASPD in male offenders subject to probation supervision who fulfil diagnostic criteria for ASPD.MethodsThree hundred and two participants recruited from a pool of offenders subject to statutory supervision by the National Probation Service at 13 sites across the UK will be randomized on a 1:1 basis to 12 months of probation plus MBT or standard probation as usual, with follow-up to 24 months post-randomization. The primary outcome is frequency of aggressive antisocial behaviour as assessed by the Overt Aggression Scale – Modified. Secondary outcomes include violence, offending rates, alcohol use, drug use, mental health status, quality of life, and total service use costs. Data will be gathered from police and criminal justice databases, NHS record linkage, and interviews and self-report measures administered to participants. Primary analysis will be on an intent-to-treat basis; per-protocol analysis will be undertaken as secondary analysis. The primary outcome will be analysed using hierarchical mixed-effects linear regression. Secondary outcomes will be analysed using mixed-effects linear regression, mixed-effects logistic regression, and mixed-effects Poisson models for secondary outcomes depending on whether the outcome is continuous, binary, or count data. A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis will be undertaken.DiscussionThis definitive, national, multi-site trial is of sufficient size to evaluate MBT to inform policymakers, service commissioners, clinicians, and service users about its potential to treat offenders with ASPD and the likely impact on the population at risk.Trial registrationISRCTN 32309003. Registered on 8 April 2016.

Rehabilitating Probation: Strategies for Re‐legitimation after Policy Failure

AbstractThis article draws on insights from the organisational studies literature to make sense of the recent history of probation in England & Wales in the aftermath of the failed Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reform programme. It considers that recent history as a crisis of legitimacy, necessitating active strategies of re‐legitimation aimed at recovering from reputational damage. It argues that top‐down plans to restructure the service will only go so far in this endeavour: the expanded National Probation Service must also be prepared to engage in legitimation work on its own behalf. However, this is likely to be challenging for a number of reasons that include the mixed constituency of external stakeholders whom probation seeks to satisfy, and important questions of identity, agency, and voice.

Exploring offender manager’s experiences of psychologically informed consultation on relationships with service users within the offender personality disorder pathway

Purpose The Yorkshire and Humber Personality Disorder Partnership (YHPDP) provides psychological consultation and formulation to offender managers (OMs) within the National Probation Service as part of the offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway. The pathway highlights the importance of formulation-led case management to develop pathways for offenders with personality difficulties at high risk of causing serious harm to others. This study aims to ask what is the experience of psychological consultation/formulation on the relationship between a sample of service users (SUs) and their OMs. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with five OMs who had engaged in at least three consultations with YHPDP psychologists/psychotherapists within the OPD pathway. Qualitative methods were used to analyse the data, specifically interpretative phenomenological analysis, which is useful when dealing with complexity, process or novelty. Findings OMs experienced the consultation/formulation process to be containing and reflective. They found complex, emotionally demanding clients who have offended and have personality disorder traits could be responded to differently as a result of this process. From an OM perspective, this improved the relationship between themselves and their SUs and supported risk management. These conclusions must be tentative, as they are drawn from a small-scale qualitative study, but provides the basis for further research. Originality/value Although there is increasing research into the outcomes of the OPD pathway, little has been done regarding the experience of the relationship between OMs and SUs. This research takes a qualitative perspective to explore this area.

Offender personality disorder pathway screening tools evaluation

PurposeThe offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway faces the difficult task of identifying individuals who are eligible for their service from the entire probation caseload. The offender assessment system personality disorder (OASys PD) screen is a national screening tool used by the pathway to help with this task. This paper aims to describe an evaluation of the effectiveness of this plus an additional screening tool currently used to identify eligible individuals for the OPD service in the South of England. Recommendations for improvements were made as necessary.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods design used a quantitative analysis of data on the effectiveness of the OASys PD for correctly identifying individuals and a thematic analysis of a focus-group conducted with clinicians within the service.FindingsThe analysis revealed a positive predictive value of the OASys PD screen of 72% and a negative predictive value of 91%. Key themes from the focus-group revealed what worked well about the screening process, what was difficult and what needed to be improved.Practical implicationsThe OASys PD performed better than the clinicians had expected. It was recommended that the service continued to use the combination of the screening tool and the interviews with minor adjustments.Originality/valueThis is the first research study of its kind on the effectiveness of the OASys Personality Disorder Screening tool. Using such a tool with some caution (the addition of consultation) creates a useful and effective process for tackling the very difficult task of identifying people for the community component of the Offender Personality Disorder Service. This research provides some evidence for the validity of such a process that is currently used throughout the National Probation Service in England and Wales.

If you want to change the world you have to start with yourself: The impact of staff reflective practice within the Offender Personality Disorder pathway

The offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway was implemented in 2012 to help improve services for people with personality difficulties within the criminal justice system. The OPD pathway acknowledges the importance of supervision, training and reflective practice for staff working with this client group and such activities have therefore been embedded within this initiative. Despite the research from this pathway identifying benefits to both staff and service users, there is a gap in knowledge about the impact of reflective practice. This study aims, therefore, to increase this knowledge base by exploring staff’s experience and perception of reflective practice as part of the OPD pathway programme. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were completed with 32 members of National Health Service and National Probation Service staff within offender management teams and approved premises in the North East of England. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, resulting in the emergence of four key themes relating to the utility of reflective practice sessions. The findings suggest that reflective practice is useful, however, there are some barriers to attending sessions. The findings have implications for service delivery and workforce development within the OPD pathway programme and more widely within NPS.

Delivering desistance-focused probation in community hubs: Five key ingredients

This article argues that probation is well placed to facilitate desistance when delivered in community hubs – community-based offices where probation services are co-located with other community-based provision. However, we highlight that hubs need to include certain key factors to maximise the potential for desistance. Using data collected through a piece of empirical research in six community hubs in England and Wales, we identify what factors make for a ‘good’ community hub as perceived by staff who work in them, those subject to supervision via a hub, and managers with strategic responsibility for commissioning hub services. We consider what it is about those factors which facilitate desistance-focused practice as outlined in McNeill et al.’s (2012) eight principles of desistance-focused practice. The five key factors identified in this study are the location of a hub, the hub’s physical environment, the extent to which services are co-located/produced, the cultural context of the hub, and the need for leaders to be innovative in the way services are commissioned. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for the National Probation Service as it takes over the work of Community Rehabilitation Companies in the coming years.

Evidence‐Based Skills in Criminal Justice: International Research on Supporting Rehabilitation and DesistanceP. Ugwudike, P. Raynor and J. Annison (Eds.). Bristol: Policy Press (2018) 224pp. £64.00hb, £21.59pb ISBN 978‐1‐4473‐3296‐1; 978–1447333012

Evidence‐Based Skills in Criminal Justice: International Research on Supporting Rehabilitation and DesistanceP. Ugwudike, P. Raynor and J. Annison (Eds.). Bristol: Policy Press (2018) 224pp. £64.00hb, £21.59pb ISBN 978‐1‐4473‐3296‐1; 978–1447333012

‘If the cap fits’? Probation staff and the changing nature of supervision in a Community Rehabilitation Company

This article explores the changing nature of supervision in a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) following the Transforming Rehabilitation ( TR) reforms to probation services in England and Wales. Based on an ethnographic study of an office within a privately owned CRC, it argues that TR has entrenched long-term trends towards ‘Taylorised’ probation practice. This is to say that qualitative and quantitative changes to the complexion of practitioners’ caseloads since TR reflect a decades-long devaluation of the probation service and its staff. The decision to allocate most qualified practitioners to the National Probation Service means that Case Managers (i.e. probation service officers) now supervise offenders who would historically have been supervised by Senior Case Managers (i.e. probation officers). This loss of expertise has been exacerbated by administrative staff redundancies at the office. The result is an increasingly standardised and fragmented mode of working within the CRC in which the majority of services are now delivered by the voluntary sector.

Individual health trainers to support health and well-being for people under community supervision in the criminal justice system: the STRENGTHEN pilot RCT

Background Little is known about the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of interventions, such as health trainer support, to improve the health and well-being of people recently released from prison or serving a community sentence, because of the challenges in recruiting participants and following them up. Objectives This pilot trial aimed to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the trial methods and intervention (and associated costs) for a randomised trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health trainer support versus usual care. Design This trial involved a pilot multicentre, parallel, two-group randomised controlled trial recruiting 120 participants with 1 : 1 individual allocation to receive support from a health trainer and usual care or usual care alone, with a mixed-methods process evaluation, in 2017–18. Setting Participants were identified, screened and recruited in Community Rehabilitation Companies in Plymouth and Manchester or the National Probation Service in Plymouth. The intervention was delivered in the community. Participants Those who had been out of prison for at least 2 months (to allow community stabilisation), with at least 7 months of a community sentence remaining, were invited to participate; those who may have posed an unacceptable risk to the researchers and health trainers and those who were not interested in the trial or intervention support were excluded. Interventions The intervention group received, in addition to usual care, our person-centred health trainer support in one-to-one sessions for up to 14 weeks, either in person or via telephone. Health trainers aimed to empower participants to make healthy lifestyle changes (particularly in alcohol use, smoking, diet and physical activity) and take on the Five Ways to Well-being [Foresight Projects. Mental Capital and Wellbeing: Final Project Report. 2008. URL: www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-capital-and-wellbeing-making-the-most-of-ourselves-in-the-21st-century (accessed 24 January 2019).], and also signposted to other options for support. The control group received treatment as usual, defined by available community and public service options for improving health and well-being. Main outcome measures The main outcomes included the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale scores, alcohol use, smoking behaviour, dietary behaviour, physical activity, substance use, resource use, quality of life, intervention costs, intervention engagement and feasibility and acceptability of trial methods and the intervention. Results A great deal about recruitment was learned and the target of 120 participants was achieved. The minimum trial retention target at 6 months (60%) was met. Among those offered health trainer support, 62% had at least two sessions. The mixed-methods process evaluation generally supported the trial methods and intervention acceptability and feasibility. The proposed primary outcome, the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale scores, provided us with valuable data to estimate the sample size for a full trial in which to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Conclusions Based on the findings from this pilot trial, a full trial (with some modifications) seems justified, with a sample size of around 900 participants to detect between-group differences in the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale scores at a 6-month follow-up. Future work A number of recruitment, trial retention, intervention engagement and blinding issues were identified in this pilot and recommendations are made in preparation of and within a full trial. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN80475744. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 7, No. 20. See the National Institute for Health Research Journals Library website for further project information.

Probation reform, the RAR and the forgotten ingredient of supervision

Considering the current review of probation services in England and Wales, this comment piece acknowledges the disappearance of supervision as a cornerstone of effective rehabilitation and the emergence of Rehabilitative Activity Requirements (RARs) replacing supervision. The authors raise concerns about the effectiveness of RARs and at this juncture argue the importance of retaining supervision within the responsibilities of National Probation Service case managers and safeguarding against it becoming an intervention that is delivered by external providers.