Co-creating rehabilitation: Findings from a pilot and implications for wider public service reform
| Author | Susan Baines,Chris Fox,Jordan Harrison,Andrew Smith,Caroline Marsh |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505211065683 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
Co-creating
rehabilitation:Findings
fromapilotand
implicationsforwider
publicservicereform
SusanBaines,ChrisFox,
JordanHarrison,
andAndrewSmith
ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity,UK
CarolineMarsh
IndependentConsultant
Abstract
Aspartofalargepan-Europeanprojectonco-creatingpublicserviceswesupported
thedesignofaprogrammeinEnglandthatattemptedtooperationaliseresearchon
desistance,throughamodelofco-created,strengths-basedworking.Wethenevalu-
ateditsimplementationandimpact.Theprogrammewasimplementedina
CommunityRehabilitationCompany.Itwasdeliveredinthecontextofrapidorgan-
isationalchange,ofteninresponsetorapidlychangingexternaleventsandaturbu-
lentpolicyenvironment.Thesefactorsimpededimplementation.Animpactevaluation
didnotidentifyastatisticallysignificantdifferenceinre-offendingratesbetweenthe
interventiongroupandacomparatorgroup.However,in-depthqualitativeevalu-
ationidentifiedpositiveexamplesofco-productionandco-creation,withindividual
casemanagersandserviceuserssupportiveandnotingpositivechange.Takenas
awholeourfindingssuggestthataco-created,strengths-basedmodelofprobation
casemanagementispromisingbutneedstobeaccompaniedbywidersystems
changeifitistobeembeddedsuccessfully.
CorrespondingAuthor:
ChrisFox,Sociology,ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity,GM316,GeoffreyMantonBuilding,Rosamond
StWest,ManchesterM156LL,UK.
Email:c.fox@mmu.ac.uk
ArticleTheJournalofCommunit
y
andCriminalJustice
ProbationJournal
2022,Vol.69(4)452–471
©TheAuthor(s)2021
Articlereuseguidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI:10.1177/02645505211065683
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
Keywords
co-creation,co-production,strengths-based,personalisation,desistance,evaluation
Introduction
Aspartofalargepan-Europeanprojectonco-creatingpublicservicesandbuilding
onpreviouspilotingworkintheUK(Foxetal.,2018),wesupportedthedesignof
MyDirectionandthenevaluateditsimplementationandimpact.
1
MyDirection
soughttoimplementpersonalised,co-producedandco-createdmodelsofcaseman-
agementinaprobationsettinginEngland.Underpinningthisresearchwasaninter-
estinexploringwaysto‘operationalise’desistancetheory,withinwhich
personalisationandco-productionarestronglyimplied.Inthispaperwefirstset
outthekeyconceptsandtheorythatframedtheprojectbeforegoingontodescribe
MyDirectionandourevaluationmethodology.Wethensetoutkeyfindingsfromthe
evaluationbeforemovingontodiscussthesefindingsandtheirimplicationsforoper-
ationalisingdesistancetheoryincriminaljusticesettingsaswellasforwiderpublic
servicereform.
Desistance,personalisationandco-creation
MyDirectionwasanattempttooperationalisedesistance,drawingonconceptsof
personalisation,co-production,co-creation,andstrengths-basedworking.Research
andtheoryaboutwhyandhowpeopledesistfromoffendinghasbecomeincreas-
inglyinfluentialintheEnglishcriminaljusticesystem(McNeilletal.,2012;Ward
andMaruna,2007).McNeill(2009:28)arguesthatdesistancethinkingsuggests
that,whenitcomestorehabilitation“One-size-fits-allprocessesandinterventions
willnotwork”.However,achallengeposedbydesistanceresearchisthatitis
“notreadilytranslatedintostraightforwardprescriptionsforpractice”(Weaver
andMcNeill,2010:6)althoughthisisnotnecessarilyproblematic,becausedevel-
opingaprescriptivemodelofpractisewouldunderminethepersonalised
approachesitimplies.
Desistanceimpliespersonalisedapproachesarerequiredwheretailoredlife
plansthatrecogniseanoffender’sassetsaswellastheircriminogenicriskfactors
arecentral(McNeill,2009).Thisrequiresnewapproachestoassessmentandsen-
tenceplanning,newtrainingforstaffandrethinkingthelanguageofpractise
(McNeilletal.,2012).IntheUK,personalisationismostdevelopedwithinthe
healthandsocialcaresectors.Foxetal.(2013)havearguedthatthecriminal
justicesectorcouldlearnfromsocialcarewhenconsideringthechallengeofreform-
ingthecriminaljusticesystemanddevelopinginnovativeapproachestooffender
rehabilitation.
Personalisationiscloselylinkedtostrengthsorasset-basedwaysofworking.The
startingpointformanypublicservicesisthattheytrytofixthingsforpeopleinthe
short-termorencouragethemtotakeactionthatfitstheservice’spriorities,not
theirown(Wilsonetal.,2018).Thisisadeficit-basedapproachthat:
Bainesetal.453
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