ACT Detainee Health and Wellbeing Survey

• 
  
  Professor Stuart Kinner

  s.kinner@unimelb.edu.au

Project Details

Building on findings from the ACT Inmate Health Survey 2010, the ACT Detainee Health and Wellbeing Survey 2016 (ACT DHWS 2016) was delivered to people detained in the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), the sole adult detention centre in the ACT.

The aims of the ACT DHWS 2016 were to:

• Rigorously assess the physical and mental health status of detainees at the AMC;
• Understand patterns of health service utilisation and treatment needs in this population; and
• Inform continuous improvement of services in custody and during the transition back to community.

This project was based on the premise that good health is more than just the absence of disease. Consequently, the survey covered a wider range of health-related issues and provides greater detail across social determinants, health behaviours, health and wellbeing, risky behaviours, and health service access, than the 2010 survey.

Researchers

Prof Stuart Kinner

Dr Jesse Young

Collaborators

Canberra Hospital and Health Services

Funding

ACT Government Health

Research Publications

1. Butler A, Young JT, Kinner SA, Borschmann R. Self-harm and suicidal behaviour among incarcerated adults in the Australian Capital Territory. Health Justice. 2018;6(1):13. Full text
2. Young JT, van Dooren K, Borschmann R, Kinner SA. ACT Detainee Health and Wellbeing Survey 2017: Summary results. 2016 ACT Government, Canberra, ACT. URL: Link