Identifying Head Injury & Associated Disability in Scottish Prisons
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Head injury in Scottish Prisons: Identifying the prevalence, associated disability and validating the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI) and the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (OSU TBI-ID) as screening tools.
IRAS ID
209565
Contact name
Tom McMillan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 0 days
Research summary
Head injury (HI) is linked to offending behaviour. The Scottish Government is considering the needs of prisoners with undiagnosed HI.
This study aims to:
1. establish the rates of HI in prisoners, in particular the rates of disability related to HI.
2. examine the extent to which the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI) and the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (OSU TBI-ID) are practical and accurate in identifying HI and associated disability.
Hypotheses and Questions
• Prisoners self-reporting HI is higher than prisoners with a hospital recorded HI.
• Disability is more common in prisoners with HI than prisoners without HI.
• When compared to hospital records, how well do the two screening tools identify HI in prisoners?
• To what extent is disability shown in those who are identified as having a HI by the two screening tools?
• How practical are the tools to administer in prison settings?Participants will be interviewed and complete measures. This will last approximately 60 minutes. Measures will relate to: disability, mood states, screening for HI, incidents reports, cognitive skills and hospital records.
Males aged 18 years and over from at least two or more Scottish prisons will be recruited. People will not be able to take part if they:
• are not fluent in English
• have current severe mental health difficulties
• have severe communication difficulties
• have current substance use
• have a deteriorating neurological condition
• pose immediate risk to researchers.
Information about the study will be sent to the prison and if prisoners want to take part, they will be asked to sign a consent form.Applications
To inform service provision in terms of which screening tool should be used in Scottish prisons and establishing which prisoners with HI are likely to require on-going support. Results will be presented and published in an academic journal and will be distributed to the Scottish Prison Service and justice committee.REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
16/WS/0216
Date of REC Opinion
9 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion