Project details

Summary

What is the study about?

We want to help prevent suicide in prisons. We have developed a course to support people in prison who may be at risk of suicide, we call this the 'PROSPECT course'. 

You can find out more about the PROSPECT study at the University of Manchester's project website.

What are you trying to find out?

We have developed the PROSPECT programme for people in prison who may be at risk of suicide. The aim of the programme is to help prevent suicide in prisons. We are currently conducting research to find out if the PROSPECT programme is effective. 

Alongside this research, we are meeting people who have been receiving the Prospect programme to ask them about their experiences of the programme. This will help improve our understanding of how the programme works, how it might be improved, and how we could deliver it in other prisons.

What does taking part involve?

Information and Consent:  Reading this information about PROSPECT and having the opportunity to ask questions. If you decide to take part you will also sign a consent form.

Baseline Assessment:  Speaking to a researcher about how you have been feeling recently. This should take about 2 hours and we can do this straight away, or we can arrange another time to come back and see you. We can spread the questions across a few sessions if that is what you would prefer.

Randomisation:  Your usual care will continue after completing your baseline assessment. In addition, a computer programme will randomly select some people to work with a PROSPECT tutor on the PROSPECT course. This is done entirely at random, and is not a reflection of your needs.

• Treatment as usual:  Things will continue as usual. You will carry on getting the care and support that you have been used to. This will include, for example, meeting with your key worker, or any care outlined in your ACCT document.
• +PROSPECT course:  In addition to your usual care, you will meet one-to-one with a PROSPECT tutor to take part in the Cognitive Behavioural Suicide Prevention programme: 1-2 times a week; 30–60-minute sessions; Up to 20 sessions in total.

Follow-up Assessment:  After 6 months you will meet with a PROSPECT researcher again to discuss how you've been getting on. We expect this to take between 2 and 4 sessions.

Completion and Certificate:  When you complete your participation you will receive a certificate thanking you for contributing to the PROSPECT research study.

There is another part of the research study that we call the ‘process evaluation’. This is where we would like to find out how PROSPECT works in the prison environment. To do this, another researcher will be speaking to people in prison and attending meetings in prison to understand people’s experiences of PROSPECT. You might be approached to take part in this too, but it is also completely voluntary and up to you if you want to take part.

Who is it for?

People in prisons in the North of England who are currently receiving, or have recently received care under the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) system). 

Why is it important? 

We can’t promise that the study will help you directly, but we hope that the research results may help us to understand how best to help people that feel suicidal in prison.

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page.

If you are interested in taking part in this study, or have questions for the research team, click the button below to email us:

Email the research team