Crisis resolution/home treatment team workers’ understandings of the concept of crisis

Background The crisis resolution/home treatment (CR/HT) model has brought significant reform of acute mental health care in the UK and beyond. The complex issue of conceptualising crisis is, however, overlooked in CR/HT literature. This study aimed to investigate how crisis is understood amongst those working in CR/HT teams. Method Framework analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews with 39 CR/HT workers representative of multidisciplinary mix and drawn from four different teams. Results Whilst there was an acknowledgment of the concept’s complex nature, there was consensus in: respondents’ characterising of crisis; about three different presenting clinical patterns (‘clusters’) encountered inCR/HT work; and, the pattern of the crisis phenomenon over time. Conclusions The findings suggest further development of the CR/HT model, including improving conceptual clarity (to benefit communication with referrers and judge clinical outcome), better timed intervention, and varying intervention for different clusters of crisis presentation