Abstract
Background: Health-justice partnerships (HJPs) are collaborations between healthcare and legal services which support patients with social welfare issues such as welfare benefits, debt, housing, education and employment. HJPs exist across the world in a variety of forms and with diverse objectives. This review synthesizes the international evidence on the impacts of HJPs. Methods: A systematic scoping review of international literature was undertaken. A wide-ranging search was conducted across academic databases and grey literature sources, covering OECD countries from January 1995 to December 2018. Data from included publications were extracted and research quality was assessed. A narrative synthesis approach was used to analyze and present the results. Results: Reported objectives of HJPs related to: prevention of health and legal problems; access to legal assistance; health improvement; resolution of legal problems; improvement of patient care; support for healthcare services; addressing inequalities; and catalyzing systemic change. There is strong evidence that HJPs: improve access to legal assistance for people at risk of social and health disadvantage; positively influence material and social circumstances through resolution of legal problems; and improve mental wellbeing. A wide range of other positive impacts were identified for individuals, services and communities; the strength of evidence for each is summarized and discussed. Conclusion: HJPs are effective in tackling social welfare issues that affect the health of disadvantaged groups in society and can therefore form a key part of public health strategies to address inequalities.
Highlights
Social welfare is a diverse area of civil law that includes issues such as welfare benefits, debt, housing, education and employment, among others
Social welfare legal problems are known to be harmful to health: population surveys of legal need have shown direct impacts such a stress-related illnesses and physical ill health [1, 2]
This review summarizes the objectives of Health-justice partnerships (HJPs) and assesses the strength of international research evidence on service impacts
Summary
Social welfare is a diverse area of civil law that includes issues such as welfare benefits, debt, housing, education and employment, among others. Optimizing people’s access to the protections afforded them under social welfare law is highly relevant to public health as a means of preventing disease, improving health and reducing health inequities. This can be facilitated by services offering advice and assistance on social welfare legal rights. Health-justice partnerships (HJPs) are collaborations between healthcare and legal services which support patients with social welfare issues such as welfare benefits, debt, housing, education and employment. This review synthesizes the international evidence on the impacts of HJPs
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
