Search results

The principle of equivalence states that the provision of healthcare in the community should be extended into prisons. Stress control is a psychoeducational intervention that has had success in the community and has been adapted for use in different settings. The purpose of this paper is to establish whether stress control can be beneficial in a custodial setting.

Stress control was evaluated by looking at clinical effectiveness, satisfaction, attrition rate, cost effectiveness and suitability of the materials for use in a custodial environment. In total, 14 prisoners completed six sessions of stress control. Data were obtained using two clinical scales and an evaluation questionnaire.

Participants' anxiety significantly decreased and their wellbeing increased after completing Stress Control. Prisoners were satisfied with the intervention and there was a small attrition rate.

The audit had a small sample size, there were no control conditions and measures were self report. There was a selection bias arising from the exclusion criteria. A large‐scale randomised controlled trial should be conducted to further test effectiveness.

The adapted materials are effective and appropriate for use in a custodial setting. There can be improved access for psychological therapy for a prison population, a cost effective intervention, acceptable to a prison population and evidence based. Further recommendations for future developments are discussed.

The applicability of an established programme for mood management to custodial settings is an area of significance to forensic practice.

I DID NOT, in fact, spend the second half of May prone under a pastis barrel in South Brittany, as I forecast in the last issue, but only because the stuff does not, apparently, come in barrels, but in comfortable‐sized bottles, and very nice too! I can report that the weather was exactly what I had always believed to be the norm in late Spring (ie recent British November fare), that the French, who are pretty awful really, would like us to stay in the Common Market because, although they think we have gone mad, it is only thanks to Britain that nazism was broken, and that if you listen to BBC Radio 4's 6 o'clock news while sitting placidly in the sunshine of a Breton evening, you rapidly realise that the French are quite right, and that the British have gone stark raving mad. Try it!