Team formulation in a specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health service: Staff perspectives

Abstract

Team formulation refers to the ‘process of facilitating a group of professionals to construct a shared understanding of a service user’s difficulties’ (Johnstone & Dallos, 2013, p. 5). This project was conducted at a specialist inpatient CAMHS service for young people under the age of 13 to understand staff views on the usefulness of team formulation and how it could be further developed. The project also assessed the service’s involvement of young people and their parents/carers in formulations following NHS England’s service specification for tier four CAMHS. The study used a sequential mixed methods design. Quantitative data was collected with a questionnaire and analysed, and then qualitative data was collected through focus groups and analysed using reflective thematic analysis. The results were then integrated through triangulation. A high proportion of the staff team took part in the project. Team formulation was reported as generally helpful by staff, especially in developing a shared team understanding and gathering all the information about a young person in one place. Further, staff reported feeling passionate about team formulation, and that it positively impacted their practice. Staff reported difficulties regarding the meeting dynamics and feeling that it is important to involve young people and families in formulations in a different way. The results of this project have inspired discussions about how team formulation is used in the service.