Head injury and associated disability in offenders V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The prevalence of head injury and associated disability in offenders on release from custody.
IRAS ID
248963
Contact name
Thomas McMillan
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Background: Head injury (HI) has been linked with offending and to higher rates of re-offending. HI can lead to impairment in cognitive abilities such as problems with memory, attention, planning and result in lifelong disability. The National Prisoner Healthcare Network want to establish the rates of HI and associated disability in those who are going through the criminal justice system. It has been found that those entering prison with moderate to severe HI have lasting disability and impairment. It is now necessary to investigate the rates of disability and associated impairment in those with HI leaving custody and entering the community. This will help establish whether there is a need for service provision to accommodate those with lasting disability who are under the supervision of the Criminal Justice Social Work Service.
Aims: This study aims to establish the number of offenders with moderate-severe HI and disability linked with this, who are at the point of preparing for release or who have recently been released from custody.
Methods: Participants will be offenders aged 18 years and older from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) preparing for release into the community.
Participants must have the capacity to consent to participate, be fluent in English and able to read and write. Individuals will be excluded if they are experiencing acute mental health difficulties, significant communication difficulties, neurodegenerative conditions, significant sensory impairment or pose imminent risk of violence to researchers.
The Glasgow Outcome at Discharge Scale (GODS) will be used to determine whether a person is disabled and to what extent they are disabled in relation to having a HI. Other measurements relate to: screening for HI’s, cognitive skills and mental health.
Participants will be grouped based on having significant HI or non-significant HI and compared across disability, mood and cognitive measurements.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
18/WS/0183
Date of REC Opinion
24 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion