Health-promoting interventions in prisons

The HRB conducted a review to determine which health-promoting interventions should be considered for implementation in Irish adult prisons in order to improve prisoners’ physical and mental well-being. This was an overview of reviews that assessed previously conducted systematic reviews of primary research studies. The review examined eight categories of interventions:

1. Sports- and exercise-based interventions
2. Horticultural interventions
3. Yoga-, meditation-, and mindfulness-based interventions
4. Art and creative interventions
5. Animal-based interventions
6. Peer-based interventions
7. Smoking cessation interventions, and
8. Healthy eating and nutrition interventions.

The review answered questions on how effective various health-promoting interventions are, what factors influence the success of the interventions themselves or their implementation, and what the barriers to and facilitators of successful interventions are.

Most of the included papers provided evidence on the effectiveness of health-promoting interventions in prison settings.

There were limited findings in relation to success factors.

The findings in relation to the barriers to and facilitators of health-promoting interventions’ success relate to four stakeholder groups: prison and criminal justice system management, frontline staff, peer workers, and prisoners themselves.

Overall, the findings relating to barriers and facilitators are more substantial than those relating to the effectiveness of or success factors for interventions.