Exploring the experiences of South Wales Probation staff that access the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway

A key aspect of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (OPDP) is to provide specialist psychologically informed support to the staff working with high-risk offenders who present with personality difficulties. This includes delivering training and facilitating case consultation and formulation meetings. This study aimed to examine the experiences of probation practitioners who have engaged with core OPDP services within a single delivery unit within Wales. Transcripts derived from audio recordings of one-to-one interviews with five probation practitioners were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three central themes were identified: the OPDP as a process for understanding personality disorder; tensions with organisational context and establishing a collaborative working relationship with the OPDP team. These findings can be mapped onto the key pathway objectives relating to staff competence and confidence and add weight to previous benefits and impacts identified by a previous study conducted within a single area of England. They also speak to wider contextual issues and concerns within probation within which the community arm of the OPDP exists.