Income and 'healthy' eating practices

This thesis sought a greater understanding of the social variables that influence diet and dietary change using a repertoire of research methods. The studies of the present thesis, like all studies, have methodological limitations and possible biases. However, after considering the problems of each study, it seems reasonable to make the following conclusions; 1) the poor were spending a greater proportion of their income on food, than people living on higher incomes; 2) providing food (and therefore health) for the family was the main responsibility of a woman in the household; 3) that all the individuals in the Income Charge study were meeting their basic food needs; 4) there was a strong desire to maintain 'mainstream' or 'normal' social eating practices following an involuntary decrease in household income; 5) there is an 'inverted V' relationship between income and variety with £20,000 as a turning point; 6) lower income families focus on meals rather than on the individual value of individual foods and on cost and taste of the food rather than its nutritional content; 7) the impact of a change in income on meal patterns, although variable from one individual to the next, was significant in most cases; 8) income was associated with dietary variety per se; 9) food changes evidence from the Income Change Study may support the view that less healthy eating in low-income groups may be a consequence of less healthy eating when a household income decreases involuntarily and 10) different subtle calculations of measures of income were found to have little notable impact on results and it was assumed that these measures could be used interchangeably in future studies as equivalence was good. For future research into the area of income and 'healthy' eating practices, the following recommendations were made: 1) studies need to have a fully comprehensive list of income and outgoings; 2) dietary interventions and health promotion activities need to consider advocating variety at each mealtime wherever possible; and 3) studies need to examine the possibilities that a change in income affects weight management in greater depth using objective tools where possible

Community energies under-evaluated: Drug initiatives on the margins

This article draws together an effectiveness review of community responses to drug concerns and supplementary interviews with key informants. Despite accessing nearly 300 publications relating to initiatives, there is a paucity of published evaluative evidence. The literature does provide a greater amount of information about initiatives that are delivered into the community as opposed to initiated by the community. Community-led responses have taken a number of approaches. To assess the current evidence on ‘what works?’, we have defined community responses to drug problems under five banners - self-help groups, parents’ groups, residents’ groups, community development groups and diversionary activity groups - for ease of discussion. There are a number of commonly identified elements that exist in successful and sustainable initiatives which are discussed

A Comparative Review of Alternatives To Custody: Lessons from Finland, Sweden and Western Australia

This report was commissioned by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre for the Justice 1 Committee. The international evidence from Finland, Sweden and Australia relating to the use of imprisonment and direct alternatives to custody will form the basis for a critical examination of proposed actions in Scotland to reduce its prison populations

Evaluation of the Scottish Prison Service Transitional Care Initiative: Interim Findings - Staff Views of Transitional Care

First paragraph: In June 2000 the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) launched a revised drug strategy aimed at, among other things, effectively managing the transition between prison and the community. Transitional Care was introduced by SPS in 2001 to support shortterm prisoners (that is, those serving less than four years) and remand prisoners with an identified substance misuse problem. Prisoners serving four years or more are already catered for through the SPS Sentence Management System and statutory post-release arrangements and are therefore not included in the Transitional Care initiative

The Operation and Effectiveness of the Scottish Drug Court Pilots: Research Findings

A pilot Drug Court was introduced at Glasgow Sheriff Court in November 2001 with a second pilot becoming operational in Fife in August 2002. The Drug Courts aim to reduce drug use and drug-related offending through access to treatment and other services, ongoing supervision and judicial oversight of Orders. The pilots also aimed to examine the viability of Drug Courts in Scotland especially, in the case of Fife, in a non-urban centre

The Fife Drug Court in Action: The First Six Months - Research Findings

First paragraph: Drug Courts were initially established in the USA in the late 1980s by sentencers who were frustrated at the limited range and effectiveness of existing measures for dealing with those whose offending was related to the misuse of drugs. They aim to reduce drug misuse and associated offending by offering treatment based options outwith the traditional court setting and are operational in a range of jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada and Ireland

The Fife Drug Court in Action: The First Six Months

First paragraph: Drug Courts were initially established in the USA in the late 1980s by sentencers who were frustrated at the limited range and effectiveness of existing measures for dealing with those whose offending was related to the misuse of drugs. Drug Courts aim to reduce drug misuse and associated offending by offering treatment based options outwith the traditional court setting. Drug Courts are now also operational in a range of other jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada and Ireland

Glasgow’s Pilot Drug Court in Action: The First Six Months

First paragraph: Drug Courts aim to reduce drug misuse and associated offending by offering treatment based options outwith the traditional court setting and have been established in a number of different jurisdictions with different populations of offenders. In October 2001 Scotland's first Drug Court was established in Glasgow Sheriff Court, operating under summary proceedings. The introduction of the new Drug Court followed the report of a Working Group for Piloting a Drug Court in Glasgow (thereafter referred to as the Working Group) which concluded in May 2001 that the establishment and operation of a Drug Court in Glasgow was feasible within existing legislation. The objectives of the new Drug Court are to: - reduce the level of drug-related offending behaviour; - reduce or eliminate offenders' dependence on or propensity to use drugs; - and examine the viability and usefulness of a Drug Court in Scotland using existing legislation, and to demonstrate where legislative and practical improvements might be important. The proposed target group for the Drug Court is offenders aged 21 years or older of both sexes, in respect of whom there is an established relationship between a pattern of serious drug misuse and offending and whose drug misuse is susceptible to treatment. Offenders referred to the Drug Court must otherwise have been facing prosecution in the Sheriff Summary Court and should normally first appear before the summary court from custody