Co‐creation of five key research priorities across law enforcement and public health: A methodological example and outcomes

Abstract

Accessible summaryWhat is known on the subject? Between policing and health, there are many shared issues. Mental health distress and crises and caring for people who may be vulnerable are priority areas. Working together in partnership is challenging, and fragmented systems and processes are the result. This leads to poor experiences for the police, health professions and the public. What the paper adds to existing knowledge? This paper describes an event that brought together 26 stakeholders involved in law enforcement and public health. The aim of this work was to identify the biggest shared challenges that they experience in their day to day jobs. The five key priorities were as follows: vulnerability; mental health crisis; decision‐making around assessment and triage across professional groups and professional roles; peer support and organizational well‐being; and information and data sharing. What are the implications for practice? This paper demonstrates the strength of bringing partners together throughout law enforcement and public health, making proper time to actually discuss the “big issues” which affect them, how they each experience these issues, and how they might have overcome these within their own professions. Only through working together as partners and having everyone on the same page with the shared priorities can we really start to make a difference in the areas and with the people who matter. The focus on “vulnerability” and “mental health crisis” demonstrates the complexity of the issues between the professions, and that they need to find effective ways to work together to support people. No one professional group can solve inter‐professional challenges alone. AbstractIntroductionLaw enforcement professions now assume more responsibility for tackling mental health issues alongside public health colleagues than ever before. The term “vulnerability” is frequently used within Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH) to identify those requiring emergency mental health care. However, there are ongoing challenges within LEPH to determine whose responsibility this is.AimTo co‐create the most important priorities for LEPH research in Scotland.MethodThe paper describes a collaborative workshop which brought together an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) of 26 senior stakeholders, from academia, policing, mental health nursing, psychiatry, paramedics, emergency medicine, people with lived experience, policy makers and third sector.ResultsThe five key priorities included: vulnerability; mental health crisis; decision‐making around assessment and triage across professional groups and professional roles; peer support and organizational well‐being; and information and data sharing.DiscussionThe paper discusses the EAG group event as a co‐production process, focusing on how key LEPH research priorities were derived.Implications for practiceThis paper demonstrates the inextricable link between co‐production and co‐creation of value via EAG group consensus on LEPH research priorities. Shared vision and professional will are not enough to ensure progress: there must also be shared policy, knowledge and access.

Qualitative Study on Dialogic Literary Gatherings as Co-creation Intervention and Its Impact on Psychological and Social Well-Being in Women During the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Dealing quickly and effectively with the psychosocial consequences of this lockdown on older people has made the co-creation processes of community networks implementing health promotion interventions even more meaningful in recent months. Very recently, a co-creation methodology was developed to identify those health professionals who require emergency mental health because of the COVID-19 crisis in Scotland through expert advisory groups of stakeholders (60). However, at the time of the writing of the current article, no studies had been published on the development of co-creation processes to alleviate the psychological and social consequences of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic on adults and older adults.…”

Intersectoral violence prevention: the potential of public health–criminal justice partnerships

“…By acknowledging the importance of proximal and distal causes of violence and health, the Scottish government has perhaps gone the farthest in supporting public health–criminal justice nexus. The government has formed a Health and Justice Collaboration Improvement Board to address violence and other social problems at the intersection of public health and criminal justice and has provided resources for joint initiatives ( Murray et al , 2021 ).…”

“…External resource barriers arise with competition for limited funding and other types of support, such as technical assistance ( Prothrow-Stith, 2004 ). Increasingly, however, governments and private funders are interested in intersectoral approaches to violence prevention and reduction, further promulgating intersectoral collaboration ( Skogan, 2011 ; de Montigny et al , 2017 ; Murray et al , 2021 ). Funder preferences and mandates to collaborate across diverse entities may not overcome competition challenges, but they may compel entities to find better ways to work together to ensure resource stability.…”

“…Information sharing between partners and across sectors is another structural challenge to collaboration ( Murray et al , 2021 ). For example, research has shown that police data are an incomplete data source in the case of penetrating wounds ( Shepherd and Sumner, 2017 ).…”

“…Scotland is a leader in the development of these intersectoral partnerships with government support. At the community level, Scotland has included police, and social and mental health service providers in trainings and education to increase knowledge, understanding and collaboration among diverse entities ( Murray et al , 2021 ). Ensuring opportunities for learning and leading by utilizing the different skills of collaborative partners as a way to bridge cultural gulfs and build buy-in and respect for collaborative projects has been asserted ( Bolton et al, 2017 ).…”