Abstract
Background
The crisis resolution/home treatment (CR/HT) model has brought significant reform of acute mental health care in the UK and beyond. The complex issue of conceptualising crisis is, however, overlooked in CR/HT literature. This study aimed to investigate how crisis is understood amongst those working in CR/HT teams.
Method
Framework analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews with 39 CR/HT workers representative of multidisciplinary mix and drawn from four different teams.
Results
Whilst there was an acknowledgment of the concept’s complex nature, there was consensus in: respondents’ characterising of crisis; about three different presenting clinical patterns (‘clusters’) encountered in CR/HT work; and, the pattern of the crisis phenomenon over time.
Conclusions
The findings suggest further development of the CR/HT model, including improving conceptual clarity (to benefit communication with referrers and judge clinical outcome), better timed intervention, and varying intervention for different clusters of crisis presentation.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the CR/HT workers interviewed who gave their time and shared their ideas, and team managers who supported this study. We thank Dr Nancy Pistrang for her invaluable advice and support in conducting and writing-up this study. This project was funded by the UCL graduate school.
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Tobitt, S., Kamboj, S. Crisis resolution/home treatment team workers’ understandings of the concept of crisis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46, 671–683 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0234-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0234-y