Long stay service users: the role of index offence type and professional staff member's experience of working with and discharging long stay service users to the community

Thesis Overview This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Forensic and Clinical Psychology at the University of Birmingham. The thesis comprises of two volumes. All identifying information has been redacted for confidentiality. Volume I This volume comprises of three chapters. Chapter 1 is a meta-analysis investigating the association between different index offences committed by service users in forensic mental health services and length of stay in hospital. Chapter 2 is a qualitative study exploring how a multi-disciplinary clinical team facilitates a safe discharge for long stay service users in a low secure mental health service. Chapter 3 is a press release document for both the meta-analysis and the qualitative study