Lyn Harrison

Integrating mental health services

The Author Reviews fourteen papers from localities throughout England outlining developments in collaborative approaches to mental health services. She considers how effective they are likely to be, in the light of evaluation and research.

Housing, public health and community care: A proposal to improve the well‐being of older people

The establishment of community care principles should have led to increased provision of independence‐enhancing housing services to older people, but the trend has been in the opposite direction. A research project considered the place of housing in public health and community care planning and the potential of primary health care workers to supply information. The article identifies obstacles to change and proposes an approach which would ensure that information on housing needs was routinely collected and fed into planning processes.

Implementing a holistic approach to alcohol education

THIS article begins by describing both an alcohol education programme in the south west, and the main activities carried out by the programmes research and evaluation team. It goes on to draw upon recent research among professionals working in four contrasting localities in the south west. It is shown how organisational role and professional training influence the capacity and sometimes the willingness to respond positively to this regional programme, with its desire to implement a holistic approach to alcohol education.

Tracking alcohol educators — a developmental approach

THIS paper outlines and discusses the alcohol edu cation activities of twelve district co-ordinators es tablished as part of the South West Alcohol Education Programme. The focus of this programme was primary prevention and the priority groups were professionals with responsibilities for young people and/or the workplace. The paper discusses the extent to which these objectives were reflected in the training activities, promotional activities and con tacts with professionals carried out by the district co-ordinators. These data were collected by an eval uation team using a developmental approach, and the advantages of such an approach for researching this type of professional activity are discussed.