Education and training in psychosocial interventions: a survey of Thorn Initiative course leaders

Abstract

The Thorn Initiative is a prominent education and training programme for psychosocial interventions. The course originated in two centres in the UK in 1992, 10 years on the programme had expanded to 13 centres across England and Wales. A survey of course content and structure was sent out to all 13 sites by email of which eight responded by post. The survey results showed that since 1999 there has been a rapid growth in the number of Thorn sites. There remains a high degree of fidelity to the original courses in mode of delivery, service user and carer participation, and core content. All of the sites were progressing towards providing degree courses, usually in a modular format and with an expanded curriculum. In conclusion, the Thorn Steering Group has been successful in Thorn site expansion and curriculum development. Such success has taken activity away from audit and research in psychosocial interventions, education, training, implementation and fidelity to taught skills. Implementation remains a cause for concern and it is recommended that a focus for Thorn sites should be on creating and evaluating novel solutions to this pervasive problem.

The Thorn Course: rhetoric and reality

“…hadn’t been given any skills to handle these very much more difficult people' (Jackson 1998, p. 87). This lack of community nurse skill and knowledge is reiterated by Butterworth (1994) and seen as the reason why PSI and family work are absent in routine care despite research evidence of the success of these interventions (O'Carroll et al . 2004).…”

“…2002). O'Carroll et al . (2004, p. 602) claim that Thorn is ‘a reflection of contemporary mental health policy’ and ‘at the forefront of training in this field’.…”

“…The Thorn web site (Gamble 2004) also claims that users and carers are recognizing the benefits and impact of this training which sets out to change practice, reduce carer burden and improve clients' health. Improved symptomology and social functioning of clients are reported (Lancashire et al . 1997, Jackson 1998, O'Carroll et al .…”

“…The total number of research studies in the set was two (Gray et al . 2001, O'Carroll et al . 2004); therefore, it was necessary to expand the search terms to ‘psychosocial intervention training’ (Meadows 2003).…”

The contribution of nursing to public health practice in the prevention of depression

“…, 2000) can enhance clients' management of their own mental health, increasing their sense of mastery and thereby reducing the risk of secondary depression. Specialist skills are needed to deliver these interventions, which mental health nurses are able to acquire through postgraduate training programs, although the implementation of such skills following training remains a cause for concern (O'Carroll et al. , 2004).…”