Purpose: Prisons offer a public health opportunity to access a group with multiple and complex needs and return them to the community with improved health. However, prisons are not conducive to optimal health and there are few frameworks to guide efforts. This study aims to generate insights into health literacy across a young adult prison…

Purpose: Stigma reduction is an important public health challenge because of the large morbidity and mortality associated with some forms of substance use. Extreme stigma can lead to dehumanisation of target groups, who are ascribed with lesser humanity. The authors examined whether there was blatant and subtle dehumanisation of people who use…

Purpose: The risk associated with heavy episodic drinking in young people has caused concern among public health professionals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender differences in the perception of risk in alcohol consumption behaviour for better targeting of messages. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative descriptive…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the research evidence on recent British trends in the use of heroin and/or crack-cocaine by young people in order to appraise the scale and nature of the contemporary health problem they pose. Design/methodology/approach: The approach consists of a narrative review of the main current data sources on…

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss how sex and relationship education (SRE) could benefit from considering current levels of young women's empowerment in (hetero)sexual relationships and challenge popular notions of twenty-first century young women "having it all" and occupying powerful relational and sexual positions.…

This article focuses on psychosocial barriers to sexual health and their implications on the design and delivery of mass media-based public health campaigns. A family planning campaign that attempted to address barriers to seeking sexual health information and services by promoting positive attitudes toward couple's communication about sexual…

Purpose: Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is a serious public health problem and, although in the past research has focused mainly on the DSH patient, it is now recognised that parental involvement in the therapeutic process is beneficial. This study aimed to understand parents' concerns, expectations and experiences following an episode of deliberate…

Purpose: The aim of this small-scale focus group study is to explore the impact the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine has on attitudes towards HPV, cervical cancer and sexual risk taking amongst university students in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were recruited through advertisements placed on notice boards throughout the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent changes in young people's consumption of alcohol in Britain before then charting emerging academic perspectives and some of the recent regulatory and legislative changes. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of a selective narrative review of young people's…