Consensus-driven insights for multidisciplinary collaboration in supporting people in incarceration and their families: A Delphi study in Hong Kong

Persons in incarceration (PICs) and their families often receive fragmented support due to persistent collaboration challenges among correctional services, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other stakeholders. Yet systematic, consensus-driven insights that integrate the perspective of frontline practitioners, managers, and researchers, particularly in non-Western criminal justice contexts, remain scarce. This Delphi study ( N = 58) conducted in Hong Kong aimed to identify barriers, facilitators, and recommendations to enhance cross-sector collaboration for services improvement. Key findings reveal structural barriers such as legal constraints on data sharing, organizational cultural differences, and role ambiguity, alongside service discontinuity from the facility-based NGO case assignment model. Strong consensus on solutions included formal collaboration agreements, cross-sector training, and family-centered “through the gate” models. This study enhances criminological knowledge by linking collaboration to desistance and restorative justice, offering evidence-based strategies for integrated practices to improve service continuity and outcomes for this population.