Accredited training in psychosocial interventions for psychosis: a national survey
| Pages | 4-14 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17556228200800010 |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Author | Hilary Mairs,Nick Arkle |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
4
Accredited training in psychosocial
interventions for psychosis:
anational survey
Abstract
The widespread provision of evidence-based
psychosocial interventions (PSI) for people who
experience psychosis and their families requires that
the mental health workforce has access to
educational and training programmes in these
treatment approaches. Such training has been
available in England since 1992 when the first PSI
programmes wereestablished at The Institute of
Psychiatry,London and The University of
Manchester. While training is now more widely
available (Brooker, 2002), little is known about the
extent and distribution of training across England,
or of the detail of individual programmes. To
remedy this, the NIMHE National PSI Implementation
Workgroup conducted a survey of university
accredited PSI education/training in January 2006.
Twenty-six courses were represented in the
returns from the eight regions served by CSIP
regional development centres. This paper presents
the findings of this survey and discusses the current
provision of PSI training in England in 2006.
Key words
psychosocial intervention; education; training
Background
The first PSI training programmes were funded by the Sir
Jules Thorn Charitable Trust. The aim of these Thorn
courses was to equip community psychiatric nurses to
work effectively with people with severe mental health
problems. Informed by the evidence at the time, the
curricula of early PSI Thorn programmes adopted a stress
vulnerability conceptualisation of psychosis and focused
upon case management, family intervention and the
psychological management of psychotic symptoms
(O’Carroll et al,2004). Evaluations of early PSI training
courses found that they were associated with benefits for
students undertaking the courses and the families that
they worked with (Brooker et al,1994).
PSI training is now widely available for all members of
the multidisciplinaryteam (Brooker, 2002). There are 11
accredited psychosocial intervention courses in England
(Thorn National Steering Group UK, 2005) and reports of
other psychosocial intervention programmes have been
published (eg. Bradshaw et al,2003). While PSI training
has proliferated (Brooker,2002), the extent of university
accredited PSI training across the country remains
unknown. Furthermore, while changes in the Thorn
curriculum have been recognised, for example, the focus
upon service level implementation of PSI (Thorn National
Steering Group UK, 2005), it is unclear how other PSI
programmes have responded to the significant
developments in values-based and evidence-based
practice observed since the inception of the first PSI
training programmes. For example, the first randomised
controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for
psychosis was published in 1993 and since that time the
findings of more than 20 trials have been reported in the
literature (Tarrier & Wykes, 2004).
In order to determine the current provision of PSI
training in England the NIMHE National PSI
Implementation Workgroup undertook a survey of
accredited PSI training courses in January 2006.
Method
Aquestionnaire comprising of 13 questions and a topic
checklist was compiled and distributed by the group to all
departments thought to offer university accredited PSI
Hilary Mairs
Lecturer in Mental Health, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Nick Arkle
Patient Experience/PSI Lead, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice Volume 3 Issue 2 June 2008 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
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