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Project Title: Crime, fear of crime (CFOC) and mental health: evidence synthesis of theory and effectiveness of interventions
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| Reference number: |
09/3000/14 |
| Lead: |
Professor Mark Petticrew |
| Institution: |
Professor of Public Health Evaluation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Protocol: |
Awaiting |
| Start date: |
1 July 2010 |
| Status: |
Research in progress |
| Methodology: |
Systematic reviews; qualitative research.
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| Outcome measures: |
Primary outcome: mental health and wellbeing
Secondary outcomes: Other health outcomes as reported in the primary studies. The differential effects of interventions across indicators of social position will also be reported where available. |
| Sample group: |
Adults and children. |
| Summary: |
Crime is a public health issue: protection from crime is an important component of healthy living conditions. However the complex pathways through which crime, and fear of crime influence individual and population health are only partially understood. Crime can have direct health effects causing injury and death. The effect of crime and fear of crime on mental health and wellbeing, although less visible, may be just as important in terms of suffering and health service and economic costs.
Crime and fear of crime can also be located within current public concerns about the effects of places on health (e.g. Halpern, 1995). Despite a range of interventions to tackle crime and fear of crime at the community and neighbourhood level in the UK, their effectiveness remains unclear in terms of what works and for whom in improving mental health and wellbeing.
This project incorporates a range of evidence synthesis methods including a critical review of theoretical frameworks for taking action on the links between crime and mental health; a systematic review of studies evaluating the effects of community level interventions (aimed at reducing crime) on mental health; and meta-ethnography of qualitative studies to understand more about how and why the interventions work or do not work. This set of three inter-linked reviews will have input from focus groups assembled in London, Glasgow and Liverpool. In particular, focus group views will be used to refine the set of research questions, to comment on the theories on pathways, and to help interpret the findings of the reviews and inform the dissemination strategy.
The objectives of the project are:
(i) To review the theoretical frameworks which identify potential intervention entry points in the pathways between crime and mental health and wellbeing, and to develop from this a logic model that underpins the types of intervention that stem from the theory;
(ii) To synthesise the empirical evidence (quantitative and qualitative) on the effects on mental health and wellbeing of community-level interventions, including changes to the built environment (such as changes to local environments, “target hardening”, security measures, CCTV and other interventions);
(iii) To summarise the evidence on whether the interventions in question have the potential to reduce health and social inequalities; and
(iv) To produce policy-friendly summaries of this evidence which can be used to inform decisions about policy and disseminated to appropriate policy/practice audiences.
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