Psychological formulation in a community learning disability team
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence & Practice    

Psychological formulation in a community learning disability team

Luke Beardmore Assistant clinical psychologist, Learning Disabilities Division, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Macclesfield
Helen Elford Clinical psychologist, Learning Disabilities Division, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Macclesfield

This article outlines the initial training and continuing facilitation of team-based formulation groups in a community team for people with learning disabilities. Training was initially requested by community nurses following a marked increase in challenging behaviour referrals to the team. The formulation groups were attended by professionals from the multidisciplinary team on a bimonthly basis.

A questionnaire using open-ended questions was designed to understand why professionals had decided to use formulation, how useful they had found the session, the effect of the session on their clinical work and whether or not service users had benefited as a result. Thematic analysis was undertaken of the data gathered. The ‘master themes’ that emerged were: supportive, reflective, development and learning, planning and confidence. It was also thought that the formulation groups should have protected time in teams to allow for team discussion of service users with challenging behaviour, consistent with the transforming care agenda.

Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2016.e1799

Correspondence

luke.beardmore@cwp.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article had been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Received: 12 September 2016

Accepted: 18 October 2016

Published online: 08 November 2016

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