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25 J. Forensic Psychiatry & Psych. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/jnlofncpy25 and id is 1 raw text is: 


The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 2014              1  Routledge
Vol. 25, No. 1, 1-25, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2014.882387 * Taylor&FrancisGroup







The   development of the comprehensive health assessment tool
for  young offenders within the secure estate

Prathiba Chitsabesana*,  Charlotte Lennoxa, Louise  Theodosioua,  Heather Law,
Sue  Bailey' and Jenny  Shawa

aManchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, UK; bGreater
Manchester  West NHS Foundation Trust, UK; °School of Social Work, University of
Central Lancashire, London, UK

(Received 7 October 2013; accepted 18 December 2013)

      Health inequalities are high among offending groups. The comprehensive
      health assessment tool (CHAT) is a semi-structured assessment developed
      to provide a  standardised approach to health screening for all young
      offenders admitted to the secure estate. The four sections of the CHAT
      (physical health, mental health, substance misuse and neurodisability) were
      evaluated within a two-phased study of male  adolescents (aged 15-18
      years) within a young offenders institution in the north-west of England.
      Within Phase 1, a consecutive sample of 127 new receptions was assessed
      using the physical health, mental health and substance misuse sections of
      the CHAT  against a range of reference standard assessments. Phase 2 of
      the study evaluated the neurodisability section on 93 male adolescents
      against reference standard  tools. The  four sections of  the  CHAT
      demonstrated fair to good  convergent validity when compared  against
      reference standard tools in male offenders. The diagnostic accuracy rate
      was  76%  for mental health, 63% for physical health, 83% for substance
      misuse and 53%  for neurodisability when compared against reference stan-
      dard assessment tools. The introduction of the CHAT offers the opportunity
      to enhance existing reception screening practices and create an integrated
      approach to the assessment of health needs across the secure estate.

      Keywords:   young  offenders; screening; mental health; physical health;
      substance misuse and neurodisability


Introduction
Young   people  in  contact with  the  youth  justice system   (YJS)  have  well
documented   multiple vulnerabilities including high rates of mental and physical
health need   and poor  engagement with health services (Chitsabesan et al.,
2006;  Lader, Singleton, &  Meltzer, 2000). Chronic  physical complaints includ-
ing poorly  controlled asthma  (Lader  et al., 2000) are exacerbated by  lifestyle
factors such  as smoking,   poor  diet and  lack of exercise.  Studies exploring

*Corresponding author. Email: pchitsabesan@nhs.net


© 2014 Taylor & Francis

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