Addressing the health concerns of adult male prisoners in Wales
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Addressing the health concerns of prisoners through Participatory Action Research: Empowering prisoners to become positive agents of change
IRAS ID
184457
Contact name
Stephanie Perrett
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Public Health Wales
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Following exploratory focus groups held at HMP Parc discussing the impact of prison on health, the themes of 'Leaving Prison', 'Family and Relationships' and 'Work and Education' were identified by prisoners as the priority areas negatively affected by the process of incarceration. This study will use participatory action research (PAR) to explore practical ways in which prisoners can be empowered to maximise their own health in these areas. PAR is a collaborative approach which allows participants to take a lead role in producing and using knowledge. It is intended to lead to actions, changes or improvements, as lead by the participants. To explore these themes more deeply, 10 prisoners will be recruited as researchers to work collaboratively with staff from Public Health Wales, Cardiff University and HMP/YOI Parc Prison. Following completion of a research training programme, this research team will be expected to explore these themes amongst peer prisoners and to propose practical ways forward to improve health in these areas. The research group will report progress to the prison Directors quarterly, working with them to explore implementation of the findings. An ethnographic process evaluation and impact analysis using diary entries, observation, interviews and questionnaires will evaluate the overall acceptability and effectiveness of using PAR in the prison setting. On completion of the study, a full report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal as well as to internal reports for Public Health Wales and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Findings, in the form of an informal newsletter will be published for other prisoners at Parc prison.
REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
15/WA/0422
Date of REC Opinion
11 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion