Health Inclusion

The Health Inclusion theme focuses on the health and wellbeing of people in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who may experience complex and multiple needs and/or who may have difficulty accessing universal services. This could include, but is not limited to, people who experience substance misuse, homelessness, mental distress, migrants, and/or offenders.

This theme is important because people from marginalised groups often have poorer health outcomes. The Marmot review (2010) sets out six policy objectives that are required to reduce health inequalities.

Included in those objectives is the need to enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives, and to ensure a healthy standard of living for all. Thus, health inclusion and ensuring that there is equity in terms of opportunities for health and access to services are important in the reduction of health inequalities.

CHAD projects that sit within this theme are:

• City centre rough sleeping and street activity in Stoke-on-Trent
• Evaluation of a pilot project: Routine Enquiry about Adversity in Childhood (REACh)

Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review (2010).

City centre rough sleeping and street activity in Stoke-on-Trent

Qualitative study of city centre street activity and rough sleeping in Stoke-on-Trent: 2016-2017, VOICES of Stoke-on-Trent.

Homelessness, including rough sleeping, has been rising nationally. Stoke-on-Trent is no exception. Stoke-on-Trent has a wide range of assets available aimed at helping people experiencing homelessness to recover. This project aimed to inform the debate locally about perceived city centre homelessness and anti-social behaviour. This is with a view to further inform the development of positive city centre solutions which recognise the needs of people who are engaged in street activity alongside those who live, work and shop in the city centre.

We used participatory appraisal methodology – a cycle of research, data collection, reflection and learning – to build community knowledge and encourage collective action. A key part of this research was that  Expert Citizens, individuals with relevant lived experiences, conducted data collection through interviews with individuals engaged in rough sleeping and/or street activity and surveys/interviews with wider stakeholders.

Following data analysis, CHAD held a wider stakeholder event to share the research and discuss the findings. The event was well attended by a wide range of individuals and included representatives from the local authority, police, housing and third sector organisations.

Bringing stakeholders together in this way helped to generate a set of co-produced recommendations to improve experiences for all in the city centre

This research is available to download here.

Evaluation of a pilot project: Routine Enquiry about Adversity in Childhood (REACh)

This study is an evaluation of the pilot project ‘Routine Enquiry about Adversity in Childhood (REACh) which is being trialled in three specific services in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. The services involved are Arch, Lifeline and Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC). It is a 12-month pilot and is being co-ordinated by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and evaluated by CHAD. We were successful in securing funding for the evaluation from Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a complex set of childhood experiences before the age of 18 that can include: sexual abuse, emotional abuse by a parent/caregiver, physical abuse by a parent/caregiver, emotional neglect by a parent/caregiver, physical neglect by a parent/caregiver, drugs/alcohol abuse in the household, having witnessed abuse in the household, a loved one in prison, loss or abandonment of/by a parent/caregiver, and mental illness in the household (McGee et al, 2015). Existing evidence has found that increasing ACEs are strongly related to adverse behavioural, health and social outcomes including, for example, involvement in violence, early unplanned pregnancy, incarceration, unemployment and problems with drug use and drug addiction (e.g., Felitti et al, 1998; Bellis et al, 2013).

REACh is the process of systematically asking individuals about adverse childhood experiences during routine assessments (McGee et al, 2015). Ultimately, the goal of this pilot is to enable individuals to move forward, changing focus from ‘what’s wrong with me’ to ‘what happened to me’, supporting people to break the cycle of risky behaviours/coping mechanisms and reduce demand for repeat interventions.

CHAD is conducting a mixed methods evaluation of this REACh pilot. There are three main elements to this evaluation:

1. Conduct secondary analyses of service data
2. Collect qualitative data from clients to explore impact, experiences and delivery of the pilot
3. Collect qualitative data from service providers to explore views about implementation, delivery and impact of the pilot.

We anticipate completing this piece of work by Autumn 2018.

Doctoral research projects

Louise Summerfield – Exploring measurement of social isolation and loneliness in the development of a screening tool for primary care (louise.summerfield@research.staffs.ac.uk).