Religion and spirituality are very important personal aspects of many people's lives. Little work has looked at the beliefs of mental health professionals and how they reconcile or benefit from the potential differences of religious faith and evidence-based mental health practice. This study used semi-structured interviews to qualitatively explore how professionals from different occupations and faiths conceptualise the relationship between their beliefs and their work.

The commonly cited ‘conflict’ of science and religion was noted, as was the personal support that faith provides for many people. Participants felt their beliefs made them better at their job, not only by reconciling differences from the two paradigms but also by allowing them to recognise compatible attributes of seeking meaning to subjective experience; this had positively influenced their choice of career in mental health. A desire for ongoing opportunity to express and discuss this interface was strongly expressed, but with concern about how this would occur and be perceived.

There is a lack of qualitative research on the religious beliefs of mental health staff. In the UK generally, the role of faith in public life is a strongly debated topic in the context of an increasingly secular and yet multicultural and multi-faith society. Our data suggest that professionals' beliefs positively influence their choice of career in mental health and make them feel better equipped to undertake their roles and provide good-quality patient care. There is an expressed need for further opportunities for staff to discuss their beliefs – or lack thereof – and to consider the individual impact of beliefs on their professional life.

To assess how common the subjective experience of coercion is in psychiatric care and what affects its prevalence. A review of published data was undertaken to assess prevalence of coercion and potential confounding variables. The heterogeneity of results was studied using meta-regression to quantify the relative impact of four potential explanatory variables.

The raw prevalence of perceived coercion ranged from 16 to 90%. A quarter of legally detained patients did not feel coerced into psychiatric care, whereas a quarter of voluntary in-patients reported coercion in care. Coercion was more common in studies outside the USA, among patient populations subject to legal detention and populations studied using the MacArthur Perceived Coercion Scale as opposed to other measures. Timing of the interview was not associated with coercion.

Coercion in psychiatric care remains highly prevalent but varies widely by study. Consistency in measurement is necessary to allow better comparison between studies.

Previous studies have shown that 17 to 60% of psychiatric trainees have been physically or verbally assaulted. To measure the frequency of assaults and the trainees' reactions, we conducted a retrospective self-reported survey of attendees at MRCPsych teaching courses in south London and at an annual meeting of psychiatric trainees.

Overall, 64% of the questionnaires distributed were returned completed. Of the trainees who responded, 41% had been physically assaulted at least once and 89% had been verbally assaulted. As a result of the assault, 34% of trainees were subsequently more risk aware and 11% were now hesitant to assess patients with a history of violence. There was no association between the level of training or attendance at a breakaway training course and having been subject to physical assault.

Our study showed unacceptable levels of physical and verbal assault on psychiatric trainees and an important effect of those incidents on clinical practice.

This study examined the frequency of seclusion intervention and factors associated with its use in the acute general adult psychiatric ward serving the Southland area of New Zealand. Details of the use of seclusion and relevant demographic data were collected over a 12-month period in 2007–2008.

During the study period there were 30 seclusion episodes involving 23 patients. The median duration of seclusion was 17 hours. The duration of seclusion was found to be inversely related to the treatment received during the period of isolation. Most patients under seclusion had a diagnosis of psychosis, and the nature of this was directly related to the Mental Health Act order applied.

The duration of seclusion in this study is long but compares with a similar study from elsewhere in New Zealand. The duration of treatment while in seclusion could be reduced if optimal treatment is given.

To determine whether members of the general public read a leaflet from the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign. The leaflets were sent to 1000 members of the public at random. Those who read the leaflet were asked, in a statement concealed within the text, to return it. A second study involved modified leaflets being posted to 400 members of a representative panel of the UK general public.

Only 20 of the 1000 (2%) people who received the unsolicited leaflet returned them, which suggests that the vast majority were unread. However, the leaflet achieved a good response in the sample from the research panel with at least 29% of participants (115 of 400) reading the leaflet.

A very small proportion of people acknowledge unsolicited leaflets. However, the leaflet was read by almost a third of a research panel. Hence, few people are likely to read unsolicited leaflets, including those containing a public health message.

To explore attitudes and perceptions towards workplace-based assessment (WPBA) among psychiatric trainers in Wales and to compare them with those of trainees. To identify current problems and report recommendations made by survey respondents to streamline and successfully implement WPBA. An anonymous questionnaire-based cross-sectional online survey was conducted involving consultant psychiatrists in Wales and the results compared with a previous survey of specialty registrars.

In total, 104 of 164 consultants participated (63%), compared with 81 of 88 trainees (92%). Both surveys highlighted numerous problems and negative attitudes towards WPBA. Compared with widespread dissatisfaction among trainees, trainers appear more diverse in their opinions, although considerable numbers are dissatisfied with the new competency-based system.

Negative attitudes harboured by many trainees and trainers constitute a significant hurdle to the effective implementation of WPBA and undermine its efficacy as a tool intended to improve training. Specific measures with the potential to address various shortcomings are discussed, with a view to improving WPBA and rendering it more acceptable to both trainees and trainers – and thus facilitate improvement of training.

We examine the feasibility of the routine use of three patient-reported and one clinician-rated outcome measures (patient-identified problem, EuroQol-5D questionnaire, EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale and Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS)) in an out-patient community psychiatric service, and discuss the associations between these variables.

The routine collection of outcome measures was feasible in the out-patient setting. There was a general improvement in the health status from the initial assessment to the first follow-up. Subsequent scores remained stable.

The study encourages the practical use of scales in routine community psychiatric practice. As there was correlation between HoNOS and EQ-5D index, both need not be used in routine practice.

Service access is currently determined primarily by age and intellectual function and, unwittingly, is discriminatory. Our aim is to develop a novel, person-centred, non-discriminatory model of mental healthcare delivery. We sought the views of people who use services, carers, commissioners and local politicians.

The model represents a major change programme that commenced in September 2011.

By integrating specialist mental health services, with a single access point, and mapping of care to the person's needs, rather than their circumstances we hope to have developed a greatly improved and fairer service. A similar model could be adopted in other locations nationally.

Service user involvement in the development of services is a fundamental aim of the National Health Service (NHS). However, a structured and quantifiable approach to their involvement in the recruitment of NHS staff is still lacking. In this study, we used service-user focus groups within a therapeutic community for people with personality disorder in order to develop the Service User Informed Tool for Staff Selection (SUITSS).

We enabled service users to develop SUITSS as a Likert scale with which to define relevant staff characteristics and rate applicants according to them, informing the staff-selection process. The tool has a semi-quantitative format that allows to test whether applicants with higher ratings are actually appointed by selection panels or not.

This new tool provides an approach to enhancing service user contributions to staff recruitment. It may be adapted and refined for use in a range of services, with local input from service users, following the approach described here.

To investigate in-patient satisfaction with psychiatrists, comparing National Health Service (NHS) trusts with sector consultants against NHS trusts with separate in-patient and community consultants (the functional model). The Care Quality Commission's in-patient survey was used, comparing mean scores on four questions concerning patient satisfaction with consultants.

Patients scored higher for being treated with respect in trusts with sector consultants. In questions concerning trust, being listened to and getting adequate time, patient satisfaction scores were again higher for sector consultants, but did not reach 5% significance.

Moving to a split between in-patient and community consultants may reduce in-patient satisfaction with care. The continuity of care with sector-based consultants may be a factor in greater in-patient satisfaction.

To describe the use of community treatment orders (CTOs) and outcomes for patients placed under CTOs within the first 8 months of use in Suffolk. We performed retrospective and prospective examination of health records to collect sociodemographic and clinical measurements with a specific data-collection tool.

All of the patients studied had a major psychotic mental illness. A significant proportion of the patients had a history of alcohol or substance misuse and contact with judicial services. Implementation of a CTO was associated with an increase in engagement, a decrease in the number of admissions, and increased time spent outside hospital.

This small localised study indicates that supervised community treatment can have benefits for some patients. The challenge now is to examine the practice of supervised community treatment and to receive meaningful feedback from people who are subject to such treatment.

To evaluate the efficacy of naltrexone maintenance therapy in a community-based programme for opioid-dependent patients and to identify predictors for longer-term retention in treatment. A retrospective case-note study was conducted in 142 people dependent on opioids who had undergone detoxification and maintained adherence to naltrexone treatment for a minimum of 4 weeks. Social and clinical demographic factors during treatment were recorded using a standardised naltrexone monitoring scale. Efficacy was measured as retention in treatment, and potential predictors were examined using regression analysis.

Although there was overall low retention of patients in treatment, 55.6% of the patients remained in treatment for 4–8 weeks, and 29.6% of the patients remained in treatment for 17 weeks or more. Enhanced long-term retention in treatment was associated with Asian or other minority ethnic status, employment, parental supervision of naltrexone administration, less boredom, short duration of addiction, younger age, low alcohol intake and no cannabis use in univariate analyses. Short duration of opioid dependence syndrome (3 years) and low alcohol intake (<10 units/week) were significant independent predictors for longer-term retention in treatment in subsequent multivariate analysis.

Low alcohol intake and shorter duration of addiction were significant independent predictors for longer-term retention in treatment, but retention rates for naltrexone remain low overall. Additional psychosocial support may be needed to address these issues.