The INSPiRe Programme: Developing an Intensive Suicide Prevention Therapy for Suicidal Prisoners

The INSPiRe Programme: A Feasibility and Acceptability Study of Intensive Suicide Prevention Therapy in Prison

This study aims to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a short-term, intensive Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) delivered to male prisoners who have thoughts of ending their lives.

10 hours of an adapted CBT therapy for suicide will be delivered across 2 weeks in 5 2 hour sessions to male prisoners. They will initially be assessed on several measures of mood, social support and suicidality. They will then undergo therapy. Following this they will be asked to re-completed the initial measures and a post-therapy interview to ascertain their thoughts on their experience of the therapy.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged over 21 years old.
• Has been managed under the Assessment, Care in Custody, and Teamwork (ACCT) system within the last 1 month (including current ACCT review).
• Sufficient English language proficiency, as judged by the researcher, in order to complete psychometric questionnaires (i.e. adequate reading comprehension) and engage in intensive CBT programme (i.e. adequate verbal communication).
• Adult is able to provide informed consent as established during baseline clinical interview (BPS, 2006; MCA, 2005).
• Currently residing in HM Prison (and expected to remain there for at least six weeks; determined through staff and prisoner report).

Exclusion Criteria:

• A primary organic disorder (indicated by prison medical staff report or records).
• Any current risk behaviour which would compromise the safety of others, as identified by prison staff.