Methodological and practical challenges of undertaking a randomised controlled trial in a police custody and community setting

Cochrane, Ann, Booth, Alison, Torgerson, David, Hewitt, Catherine, Mitchell, Alex, Parkes, Julie, Morgan, Sara and Taylor, Ben (2018) Methodological and practical challenges of undertaking a randomised controlled trial in a police custody and community setting. Randomised Trials in the Social Sciences Conference, York. 05 - 07 Sep 2018.

Abstract

We are undertaking a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) as part of a collaboration with Hampshire Constabulary and the University of Southampton. The trial investigates the effectiveness of an out-of-court community-based intervention aimed at improving health and well-being for young adult offenders in the Southampton Policing District (SPD) and reducing reoffending. Although the three elements of the Gateway intervention have been tested individually, they have never been assessed collectively in an RCT. In setting up the study novel approaches to recruitment and randomisation have been developed collaboratively to meet the needs of the study while staying within legal requirements.

Methods: when designing this trial, we had to understand:

Population:
•Criteria for eligibility of offenders (aged 18-24) residing within SPD;
•What constitutes a low level criminal offence;
•The custody process and associated timelines.

Intervention and comparator:
•Legalities surrounding delivery of the Gateway intervention and its associated conditional; caution alongside the usual court summons;
•Police IT systems for collection of routine data, intervention delivery data and study outcome data.

Outcomes:
•Availability of personal data within the police setting and the limitations for accessing this under recent GDPR legislation;
•Agreeing meaningful and achievable outcomes;
•Permissions to obtain study consent, access routine police data and collect new data

Discussion:
There are currently few examples of RCTs recruiting in Police custody and applying our clinical knowledge to this non-clinical setting resulted in a number of compromises. We will share the methodological and practical challenges we faced with recommendations for ‘lessons learnt’.

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Contributors

Author: Julie Parkes

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