Undertaking action research in prison: Developing the Older prisoner Health and Social Care Assessment and Plan

Abstract

Older prisoners are the fastest growing group in prisons. They have complex health and social care needs and the coordination of their care is suboptimal. An action learning group including health care staff, prison staff and older prisoners was established at one prison in England. The group developed the Older prisoner Health and Social Care Assessment and Plan (OHSCAP) which is a health and social care assessment and care planning process for the better identification and management of older prisoners’ needs. This paper describes and critically analyses the process of action learning in prison to develop and pilot the OHSCAP. Data were collected through reflective notes from the action learning group facilitator, reflective diary writing from group members, emails, research project steering group meeting notes and interviews with action learning group members. The constant comparison method of data analysis was used. We found that action learning is a valuable approach for developing practice in the challenging prison environment. There are important considerations when using action learning in the prison setting. These include maintaining the groups’ focus; clarifying roles and procedures; providing practical and theoretical space and considering the groups’ composition.