Keeley Moore

ObjectiveTo complete a cultural adaptation of a UK evidence-based problem-solving intervention to support Polish prisoners at risk of suicidal behaviour.DesignA cross-sectional survey participatory design using an Ecological Validity Model.SettingThe study was a collaboration between: the Academy of Justice, in Warsaw, the University of Lodz, two Polish prisons (ZK Raciborz and ZK Klodzko) and the University of York (UK).MethodsThe adaptation process included an examination of the use of language, metaphors and content (ie, culturally appropriate and syntonic language), the changing of case study scenarios (relevance and acceptability) and maintenance of the theoretical underpinning of the problem-solving model (intervention comprehensibility and completeness). Four stages used: (1) a targeted demonstration for Polish prison staff, (2) a wider audit of the skills with Polish prison staff and students, (3) forward and back-translation of the adapted package, and (4) two iterative con...

The face overshadowing effect (FOE) has been noted in cases where recognition of voices is impaired if they are presented simultaneous to a face at encoding. The current study investigated the effect of facial concealment (with and without wearing a balaclava) and emotionality of vocal tone on the face overshadowing effect in voice identification. It was predicted that the FOE would be reduced in the case of presentation of a concealed face along with voices, as the lack of facial feature information would result in greater attention being paid to the voice. It was further anticipated that angry voices would attract more attention and result in better voice recognition and reductions in the FOE than neutral voices, as hostile voices represent a level of threat that captures attention analogous to the weapon focus effect in eyewitness memory. Results replicated the FOE in a voice plus face video presentation but, contrary to expectations; a concealed face presentation also demonstrat...

Background: Levels of mental disorder, self-harm and violent behaviour are higher in prisons than in the community. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a brief peer-led problem-support mentor intervention could reduce the incidence of self-harm and violence in an English prison. Methods: An existing intervention was adapted using a theory of change model and eligible prisoners were trained to become problem-support mentors. Delivery of the intervention took two forms: (i) promotion of the intervention to fellow prisoners, offering support and raising awareness of the intervention but not delivering the skills and (ii) delivery of the problem-solving therapy skills to selected individual prisoners. Training and intervention adherence was measured using mentor log books. We used an Interrupted Time Series (ITS) design utilizing prison data over a 31 month period. Three ITS models and sensitivity analyses were used to address the impact across the whole prison and in the two groups by intervention delivery. Outcomes included self-harm and violent behaviour. Routine data were collected at monthly intervals 16 months pre-, 10 months during and six months post-intervention. Qualitative data measured the acceptability, feasibility, impact and sustainability of the intervention. A matched case-control study followed people after release to assess the feasibility of formal evaluation of the impact on re-offending up to 16 months. Findings: Our causal map identified that mental health and wellbeing in the prison were associated with environmental and social factors. We found a significant reduction in the incidence of self-harm for those receiving the full problem-solving therapy skills. No significant reduction was found for incidence of violent behaviour. Interpretation: Universal prison-wide strategies should consider a series of multi-level interventions to address mental health and well-being in prisons.

The face overshadowing effect (FOE) has been noted in cases where recognition of voices is impaired if they are presented simultaneous to a face at encoding. The current study investigated the effect of facial concealment  (with and without wearing a balaclava) and emotionality of vocal tone on the face overshadowing effect in voice identification. It was predicted that the FOE would be reduced in the case of presentation of a concealed face along with voices, as the lack of facial feature information would result in greater attention being paid to the voice. It was further anticipated that angry voices would attract more attention and result in better voice recognition and reductions in the FOE than neutral voices, as hostile voices represent a level of threat that captures attention analogous to the weapon focus effect in eyewitness memory. Results replicated the FOE in a voice plus face video presentation but, contrary to  expectations; a concealed face presentation also
demonstrated a FOE, with highest accuracy of voice identification in the voice only condition. Angry vocal tone had a slight tendency to result in better recognition of voices across groups and somewhat improve performance in the visual conditions. It was concluded that voice identification is as fallible and prone to error as eyewitness identification but that conditions where the voice is made salient and visual information is absent result in higher accuracy. Implications for the criminal justice system are discussed.