Service user experiences of a motivational group

The Forward Motion Motivational Group (FMMG) is a psychological group intervention facilitated in the Mental Health Directorate of a high-secure Hospital. Research has highlighted a limited amount of service user involvement within secure settings. The aims of the study were to explore participant's experiences of FMMG, to establish whether these reflected the aims of the programme, to provide participants with the opportunity to recommend changes to the current service provision and to explore whether the programme supported engagement in further psychological interventions.

Ten programme completers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. The interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) alongside Beutow (2010) Saliency Analysis Guidelines.

Thematic analysis of the data resulted in five key themes: expectations, group experience, programme facilitators, learning and programme aims and programme development.

Qualitative measures provide an insight into whether participant's experiences reflect the programme aims which is a valuable indicator of treatment effectiveness. Participants advocated the value of completing an introductory group to broaden their insight into the structure and delivery of psychological group interventions.

Given the limited amount of research involving service users within secure settings, it is specifically the service user's experiences and suggestions for programme development that are considered within this paper. This highlights the value of service user involvement for those interested in conducting research within secure settings.