Clients' Perception of Unhelpful Aspects of Prison Psychologically-Informed Interventions in the UK: A Systematic Review.

Authors

Marina Hall, Marie Chollier

Published in

International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology. Pages 306624X261494214. Oct 07, 2026. Epub Oct 07, 2026.

Abstract

Therapeutic prison research is dominated by outcome studies which often overlook client experiences. Understanding client experience is one way to offer more effective interventions. This paper aims to synthesise the findings of the qualitative literature to gain an understanding of what UK prison clients find unhelpful in psychologically informed interventions. Of the 2,345 publications screened, 32 were included totalling 513 participants. The findings are presented as five constructed categories relating to the physical environment, therapy structure, therapeutic relationship, in session unhelpfulness, and stigma. The review includes potential applications to practise such as the need for cultural representation and attunement, adequately trained and consistent staff, open discussions with clients of potentially unhelpful aspects of interventions and potential improvements to the physical setting. The structure, modality and relational style were helpful to some but unhelpful to others which highlights the need for a personalised or flexible rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to interventions in prison.

PMID:
42844931
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Oct 2026.

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