Investigating the protective effects of social support on forensic inpatient admissions

To date, research investigating the role of socially supportive relationships on service users’ recovery in the context of forensic inpatient admissions is scarce. This study aimed to explore the protective effects of socially supportive relationships on objective measures of recovery in the context of admissions to secure hospital. Family, peer and intimate partner support variables were constructed based on Historical Clinical Risk Management (HCR-20v3) risk assessments of 330 service users. Secondary data analyses of National Health Service care records using generalised linear models and proportional hazards modelling were conducted to measure the impact of social support on service users’ length of stay in hospital, risk incidents during inpatient admissions and total number of admissions to hospital. Results demonstrated protective effects of family and intimate partner support on objective measures of recovery, particularly regarding incidences of violence and the overall number of inpatient admissions. Findings are discussed in relation to existing theory and research, and implications for practice and future research are suggested, with a focus on the unmet need for family intervention and outreach in forensic mental health services.