Purpose The role of psychological professionals has been expanding to meet the increasing demand for mental healthcare across the prison estate in the UK. Existing literature emphasises the challenges that different professional groups in prison face, with less focus on the views of psychological staff. This study aims to explore the factors and processes involved in the delivery of psychological therapies in seven prisons in England, from the perspective of staff. Design/methodology/approach Ten psychological professionals took part in semi-structured interviews, following purposive recruitment and theoretical sampling. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was used to formulate a theoretical framework of participants’ experience of delivering psychological therapies in prisons. Findings “The rose that grows from concrete” reflects participants’ shared experience of therapy in prison as a hopeful process that perseveres through adversity. Four core categories emerged from the data, namely, “the driving force”, “impeding factors”, “we keep persevering” and “the rose that grows from concrete”. Practical implications The role of psychological professionals has been expanding to meet the increasing demand for mental health care across the prison estate in the UK. Existing literature emphasises the challenges that different professional groups in prison face, with less focus on the views of psychological staff. Originality/value The end ground theory model adds to the existing knowledge base by offering an insight into the challenges, motivations, coping strategies, aims and successes of prison therapists. The model is process-oriented, depicting psychological therapy as dynamic gears that interact with the forces of the wider context and systems operating in prison environments. Interpretations and conclusions drawn from the results are not limited to the experience of a single therapeutic modality, which adds to the originality of this research.
Papadaki et al. (Sat,) studied this question.