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Are health‐promoting prisons an impossibility? Lessons from England and Wales

Martin Caraher (Martin Caraher is Reader, Food and Social Policy at the Centre for Food Policy, Thames Valley University, Ealing, UK.)
Paul Dixon (Paul Dixon is Independent Database Consultant and Data Analyst and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK)
Roy Carr‐Hill (Roy Carr‐Hill is Reader at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK.)
Paul Hayton (Paul Hayton is Head of Health Promotion, Prison Health Policy Unit, NHS Executive, London, UK.)
Hilary McGough (Hilary McGough is an Independent Researcher, London, UK.)
Lisa Bird (Lisa Bird is formerly Head of Research and Support Unit, The Mental Health Foundation, London, UK.)

Health Education

ISSN: 0965-4283

Article publication date: 1 October 2002

1596

Abstract

Investigates 1999/2000 health promotion activities in prisons in England and Wales and documents the range and quality of health promotion occurring in prisons, against which future activity might be measured. Finds that health promotion is under‐resourced and the concept and practice poorly understood. Health needs assessment tended to be analysis of and for health‐care services and, except in a minority of cases, did not include consultation with staff, prisoners or their families. Where responsibility was shared and the work based on multi‐disciplinary approaches, it seems more likely to have been reported accurately as health promotion activity. The official policy of a healthy settings/whole prison approach was not understood by many and its application was limited. The findings have informed the development of a new health promotion strategy for the prison service in England and Wales.

Keywords

Citation

Caraher, M., Dixon, P., Carr‐Hill, R., Hayton, P., McGough, H. and Bird, L. (2002), "Are health‐promoting prisons an impossibility? Lessons from England and Wales", Health Education, Vol. 102 No. 5, pp. 219-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654280210444092

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited

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