Routine Sensitive Enquiry of Adult Interpersonal Trauma in Community Mental Health Teams: An Audit of the Initial Assessment Tool

TL;DR

This study evaluates how well a tool helps mental health teams ask about adult trauma and use the information for care.

Contribution

The study evaluates the Initial Assessment Tool's effectiveness in documenting trauma disclosures and guiding care in community mental health.

Findings

57% of Initial Assessment Tools showed evidence of trauma enquiry.

61% of these cases used the information for risk assessments.

Only 14% of cases documented referrals to support services.

Abstract

This audit aimed to evaluate the utility of the Initial Assessment Tool (IAT) in documenting routine sensitive enquiry of adult interpersonal trauma within three Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) in North-East Glasgow. In addition, it sought to evaluate if disclosures informed patient risk assessments and if patients were signposted to additional support services. 57% of 90 IATs had evidence of routine sensitive enquiry. Of 51 casefiles with evidence of routine sensitive enquiry, 61% had evidence of the information informing their risk assessments and 14% had documented recommendations of support organisations. The IAT appeared able to assist clinicians with routine sensitive enquiry in adulthood. However, there may be advantage in supporting staff understanding of how to ask questions to specific populations and to use this information to inform treatment planning. Given the prevalence of adult interpersonal trauma experienced by patients presenting to CMHTs, trauma-informed approaches to care should be implemented.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10597-023-01220-z.