Challenges in delivering personalised support to people with multiple and complex needs: qualitative study

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics^a.

Beneficiaries	Of the 21 beneficiaries initially interviewed, 16 were male and 5 were female. They had a mean age of 41 years (range 22–54 years). Seventeen described themselves as White British, two as Mixed Race, one as Black British, and one as Asian British. At the point of referral to the programme, 20 had a history of offending, 16 had no formal qualifications, 15 had a problem with alcohol or other drugs, 13 had a diagnosed mental health disorder, and 8 were street homeless or living in a hostel. Follow up interviews were completed with 8 of the 21 beneficiaries (6 males and 2 females). They had a mean age of 38 years (range 22–52 years). Six described themselves as White British, one as Mixed Race and one as Black British. Six were still actively working with the programme; the other two were interviewed in prison and were no longer engaged with the programme. Neither the research team nor the programme workers were able to establish contact with the remaining 13 beneficiaries.
Programme workers	Of the 8 programme workers initially interviewed, 6 had been in their current role since the start of the programme and two had joined the team in 2016. They had all previously worked in the public sector (housing, criminal justice, addictions, mental health, social and family work, and service commissioning), although only one had previous work experience of personalisation and personal budgets. Three had a personal history of service use (although many years previously). The 7 programme workers interviewed at the follow up stage included 6 workers who had been interviewed initially (one of whom had now left the programme) and one new staff member. Two other programme workers initially interviewed had since left the programme and could not be contacted.
External partners	The six external partners initially interviewed were working in a range of local services, including housing, health, the police and the charity/third sector. All were currently working with people who had multiple and complex needs, and one had past personal experience of homelessness and alcohol dependence. All six were interviewed at follow up.

^a Only basic details are provided to protect participant anonymity