Mr Mahmoud Ghamraoui1, Professor Troy McEwan, Dr Nichola Tyler
1Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia
Biography:
Mr Mahmoud Ghamraoui is a provisionally registered psychologist and doctoral candidate currently enrolled in the Doctor of Psychology (Clinical and Forensic Psychology) at Swinburne University. He completed his Bachelor of Psychological Science and Bachelor of Psychological Science with Honours. Mahmoud’s honours thesis was a quantitative empirical report investigating the drivers behind extremism and sympathy for violent radicalisation in an Australian context.
Case formulations are a key component of clinical and forensic mental health practice that help guide and explain why an individual engages in particular behaviours at a specific time. They are often used in forensic contexts to help explain past offending behaviour and shape risk management plans to prevent the recurrence of similar problematic behaviours in the future (Wheable & Davies, 2020). Despite the central role of formulation in forensic practice, there is limited evidence about the quality of forensic formulations completed by practitioners.
This paper presents findings from a study investigating the influence of a one day forensic case formulation workshop on the quality of Australian practitioners’ forensic formulations. Using a combination of observational and quasi-experimental designs, the study aimed to investigate the overall quality of forensic formulations developed by forensic practitioners, and examine whether formulation quality can be improved through training and sustained from a training environment into practice over the medium term. Finally, the study evaluated changes in practitioner characteristics (e.g. confidence and understanding) following training across two groups of mental health professionals. This research contributes to the emerging literature on forensic case formulation by examining whether structured training enhances the quality of formulations both in training and practice environments.