Review of service delivery and organisational research focused on prisoners with mental disorders

Abstract

This paper reports a structured review of the service development and organisational (SDO) research literature focused on prisoners with mental disorders. A large number of databases were searched, using a combined free-text and thesaurus approach. Papers were included if they had been published since 1983, were written in English, and contained research findings. Commentaries or descriptions of local service innovation were excluded. In all, 103 papers were identified that met all criteria; these were divided into 13 categories (e.g. screening, 18 papers; professional roles, 13 papers). The paper concludes that there is a clear need to consider commissioning SDO research for offenders in England and Wales in a coherent programme.

Keywords:

• epidemiology
• interventions
• mentally ill prisoners
• randomised review
• service user views