Repository logo
 

Setting Up a Café Using Co-Production Principles in a Forensic Mental Health Service: A Case Study

Files

Thesis(8.27 MB)

Date

2024

Authors

Supervisor

McKenna, Brian
Sutton, Daniel

Item type

Thesis

Degree name

Master of Health Science

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Introduction: Forensic mental health services provide care, treatment, and rehabilitation for people who have entered the criminal justice system as a result of mental illness or who have become mentally unwell whilst serving a prison sentence. People in the care of forensic mental health inpatient services are subject to many occupational challenges due to a number of external factors such as lengthy leave restrictions and tension between custodial care and therapeutic rehabilitation paradigms. There is a need for service strategies that address occupational deprivation in institutional settings and strengthen protective factors that contribute to successful rehabilitation and recovery outcomes. One such service strategy is to involve service users in collaborative design such as co-production of occupationally-based solutions and programmes. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe a project that used co-production principles to create an onsite café in a forensic mental health setting. The study aimed to provide a description of the project setting and process, identify facilitators and barriers of co-production in this case, and describe how involvement in the co-production project impacted participants. Method: A qualitative case study methodology was used to capture the phenomena of the project through a description of the case. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants (two staff and four service users) and constant comparative analysis was used alongside project documentation to establish findings. Results: Six main themes were identified. These were: 1) ‘needs of tāngata whai ora in forensic mental health settings’, which identified needs for accessible vocational training opportunities, the desire of tāngata whai ora to prove themselves and challenge negative expectations, and the need for empowering environments and approaches; 2) ‘group dynamics and process’, which described the processes of becoming a team through making decisions together and which led to the creation of a distinct experience of power and agency within the secure environment; 3) ‘a learning experience’, which highlighted learning phenomena within the co-production working group; 4) ‘grappling with co-production’, which identified challenges in defining the project within the current service structures as well as the pressure of accountability to co-production experienced by the facilitators; 5) ‘facilitators and barriers’, which revealed the role of supportive staff, opportunities and challenges when navigating processes, and staying motivated through delays to project progression, and; 6) ‘impacts’, which highlighted the rewarding nature of the co-production experience and impacts that aligned with recovery factors. Implications: The first implication is that co-production can be integrated with other strengths-based offender rehabilitation models and aligned with collectivist approaches. Second, forensic mental health programmes that focus on psychoeducation can also be strengthened by integrating adult learning theories into their design to support transformational change. Third, co-production projects require substantial time and energy commitment to meet their aims therefore strategies to ensure sustainability need to be established. Fourth, occupational therapy and lived experience workers appear to be well positioned philosophically to support co-production initiatives and require resourcing. Finally, there is scope for future research to focus on eliciting managerial perspectives of co-production as well as the development of guidelines specific to the implementation of co-production in forensic mental health settings.

Description

Keywords

Source

DOI

Publisher's version

Rights statement

Permanent link

http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18083

Collections

Masters Theses