Public Health Institute reports

The aim of Criminal Justice Intervention Teams (CJITs) is to identify and engage with adult offenders in the criminal justice system who use drugs and/or alcohol, and encourage them to engage with appropriate treatment services in order to reduce acquisitive crime. This CJIT Activity report for Knowsley shows trends over a six-year period up to the year ending March 2023 for clients accessing the CJIT.

The aim of Criminal Justice Intervention Teams (CJITs) is to identify and engage with adult offenders in the criminal justice system who use drugs and/or alcohol, and encourage them to engage with appropriate treatment services in order to reduce acquisitive crime. This CJIT Activity report for Liverpool shows trends over a six-year period up to the year ending March 2023 for clients accessing the CJIT.

Existing evidence suggests prison-based parenting programmes are promising in improving parenting skills and relationships between parents in prison and their children, but there remains uncertainty on how these interventions can be effectively implemented. In light of this, Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) asked the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to evaluate The Nurturing Programme, a parenting intervention at HMP Altcourse, a Category B prison in Liverpool (North West England). The Nurturing Programme is a 10-session parenting programme created by Family Links which aims to help parents and children live emotionally healthy lives, focusing on four main constructs: self-awareness, appropriate expectations, empathy, and positive discipline. During 2022, a family link worker delivered the course the course six times at HMP Altcourse Family Intervention Unit. Each course ran over a five-week period (two sessions per week) for up to 12 men per course. The mixed methods evaluation used interviews with stakeholders (n=3), pre (n=30) and post (n=26) surveys with fathers, interviews with fathers who had completed the programme (n=25) and analysis of secondary data in order to better understand: 1) the implementation of The Nurturing Programme (including barriers and facilitators, fidelity, and reach); 2) participating fathers’ experiences and perceptions of The Nurturing Programme; and, 3) the intended and actual impacts of The Nurturing Programme on fathers, children, and their families.

Merseyside is one of several areas allocated funding by the Home Office since 2019 to establish a multi-agency violence reduction unit. Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP) aims to take a whole system public health approach to prevention that complements existing multi-agency partnerships and brings together partners to develop a coordinated approach to tackle the root causes of violence. Since 2019, the MVRP has commissioned Liverpool John Moores University and its partners to evaluate the MVRP as a whole and selected work programmes. This report is the fourth annual whole system evaluation of MVRP and aims to examine their implementation, embedding, and sustainability of a public health approach to violence prevention. The primary objectives were 1) To assess the progress that the MVRP has made in implementing different components of a public health approach to violence prevention across the region 2) To review the sustainability of the public health approach to violence prevention across the region. 3) To identify key areas for further transformation, considering progress to date, and the requirements of the UK Serious Violence Duty. Methods: The methodological framework was informed by the whole system approach to public health evaluation (Egan et al, 2019), combining qualitative interviews with members of the MVRP team (n=15) and Steering Group (n=14), five mixed methods case studies of place-based interventions undertaken in each Local Authority area (using qualitative methods and secondary data analysis), and a survey with delivery partners (n=27) to update the MVRP logic model and theory of change.

Injuries and violence are a major public health problem and this project aimed to estimate the costs of injuries and violence to the health care systems across the WHO European Region. An estimated 78.4 million people suffered injury or violence that required medical care in 2019 with associated hospital costs of USD PPP 39.4 billion arising from emergency department visits and inpatient hospital stays. Injuries and violence are preventable, and increased spending on evidence-based prevention interventions is warranted to prevent the realisation of the cost burden to the health system.

In 2022/23 the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP) funded the development and piloting of a suite of programmes delivered by Ariel Trust, an education charity in Merseyside. Ariel Trust developed three programmes called ‘Send me a Selfie’, ‘Grassing or Grooming’, and ‘Skills to Resist Radicalisation’ and trained teachers to deliver them to primary school children across Merseyside. These programmes used action-based learning theatre and role-play methods to teach primary school aged children about problematic situations, giving them the skills in how to respond appropriately, and ask for help if they are involved, including as a bystander. Liverpool John Moores University were commissioned to evaluate the Ariel Trust violence education programmes in primary schools across Merseyside. By the end of the 2022/2023 academic year, a total of 107 schools across Merseyside had delivered at least one of the programmes and over 6,000 students had taken part in the programmes. Findings from the 2022/23 evaluation of the programmes suggested staff and students’ perceptions of the programme content, and particularly the delivery style were very positive. Critically, the programmes had significant positive impacts on students’ knowledge and attitudes related to the topics covered, including knowledge on how to keep safe online, a strengthened understanding of grassing and grooming concepts, who to reach out to for help, and how to navigate difficult situations. Whilst further research and evaluation is required, findings to date suggest a number of key learnings for programme development, and overall support the continued implementation of the programmes across Merseyside schools in 2023/24.

The Isle of Man Health and Lifestyle Survey 2021 aimed to examine the general health and wellbeing amongst the Island’s adult population, with additional questions related to COVID-19. In total, 2,849 responses were received which equates to 4.1% of the Island’s adult population. The questionnaire included a range of questions on a series of key health issues including smoking, alcohol, diet and nutrition, exercise, weight, general health, and wellbeing. In addition, the questionnaire collected information on basic demographics of participants, and a number of questions related to COVID-19 including prevalence of COVID-19, vaccine uptake, and impact of COVID-19 on employment, socialising, relationships, and travel. It used a number of validated instruments for identifying and measuring health-related issues. The Public Health Institute (PHI), Liverpool John Moores University were commissioned to analyse the data from the survey and produce a report presenting the findings.