International Evidence on the Impact of Health-Justice Partnerships: A Systematic Scoping Review

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.

Maximising the health impacts of free advice services in the UK: A mixed methods systematic review

“…Despite the limitations in the evidence, there is a clear indication that advice services may contribute to positive wellbeing and mental health outcomes. This adds to evidence from previous reviews examining the association between advice and health (Adams et al, 2006;Allmark et al, 2013;Beardon et al, 2021) that supports the commissioning and delivery of advice services to improve public health, but highlights the weaknesses in the evidence base and our lack of understanding on mechanisms that drive this impact.…”

“…Beardon et al. (2021) found that Health Justice Partnerships around the world effectively address the social welfare issues that affect health. Our review complements this study by focusing on the wider range of settings and services outside of health justice partnerships in the UK context.…”

“…In addition to these systematic reviews, a recent scoping review of related evidence focused on the health-justice partnerships in healthcare settings. Beardon et al (2021) found that Health Justice Partnerships around the world effectively address the social welfare issues that affect health. Our review complements this study by focusing on the wider range of settings and services outside of health justice partnerships in the UK context.…”

Health economics of health justice partnerships: A rapid review of the economic returns to society of promoting access to legal advice

“…CA provides similar welfare advice to HJP, including providing advocacy to some clients, and has continued to receive funding from government and local councils post-2012. However, the search included pre-2012 studies and US based studies, where HJP is well-established ( 15 ). As only one HJP specific study, and only a total of four peer-reviewed welfare intervention studies with health economic evaluations were identified in this review, it indicates that there is a lack of economic evaluations of these services.…”

“…The literature search strategy followed rapid review procedure ( 14 ). The period 1st January 1995 to 14th July 2022 used covers the period since HJP were first reported ( 15 ). The following academic databases were examined: PubMed, CINAHL, ASSIA, PsycINFO, Medline, Cochrane Library, Global Health and Web of Science.…”