Adapting the WHO QualityRights Tool for the prison setting

• Autor(a) principal: Southalan, Louise Kate
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/27094
• topic: Mental Health; Prison health; Prisoners; QualityRights; World Health Organization; Saúde Mental; Saúde prisional; Prisioneiros; Direitos de qualidade; Organização Mundial de Saúde; Ciências Médicas

ABSTRACT: This dissertation considers a process through which rights and quality of mental health services are measured in non-prison settings, and explores how this can be adapted to prison settings. The World Health Organisation (WHO) QualityRights tool was developed to enable countries to qualitatively assess quality and rights aspects of mental health services, referenced against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD is premised on achieving substantive equality of human rights regardless of disability, and entrenches the principle of non-discrimination in the way that states are required to ensure equal rights for people with disabilities. Whilst states are legally bound to provide prisoners with a level of healthcare equivalent to that provided outside prison, understanding what ‘equivalent care’ means is complex. There are many situations where prison procedures uniquely impact on people with mental disorders. Moreover, the higher prevalence and complexity of health problems in prisons arguably means that providing healthcare equivalent to that found in the community may fall short of what prisoners require, if assessed on the basis of equity of health outcomes. Several scholars in the field have suggested a need to move beyond the principle of equivalence because of its conceptual and practical challenges. However there is currently no clear consensus on how to reach a more workable understanding of the principle. To date consideration of the principle of equivalence has included little discussion of the implications of the CRPD. This dissertation seeks to constructively engage with this debate by identifying, from the literature, issues in prison life which can impact significantly on the rights of people with mental disabilities. It proposes an adapted version of the QualityRights tool to incorporate these issues, subject to future refinement and piloting, and suggests areas for future research.