Caroline Pow and Mark Gillespie describe how a pilot of an innovative, nurse-led therapeutic tool was developed and evaluate its success

Aims To describe the development and the initial results of a behavioural family therapy programme (BFT) in a medium secure environment.

Method A pre and post questionnaire was developed by the programme team to measure the effect of BFT on participants. The questionnaire was based around main elements of the approach: communication, support, coping skills, understanding mental illness and expectations.

Results Using SPSS and a paired sample t-test, there was statistically significant mean scores gain (P<0.001) from the pre scores to the post scores on four of the BFT questionnaire subscales: communication, support, coping skills and understanding mental illness. There was also a lesser but still statistically significant mean score gain (P<0.01) on the expectations subscale.

Conclusions The initial findings for the use of BFT in medium secure environments is encouraging but additional research is required to enhance the reliability and validity of the measurement tool.