Example health and social care dissertation topic 8:

Care in the community 25 years on – A rejoinder.

Twenty five years have now passed since the care in the community revolution ushered in by Thatcher and concentrates on those reforms that were focused upon those who suffer from severe mental health problems. Interviewing staff, clients, and their families, this dissertation revisits not only those who were affected by the changes in service delivery as they happened, but also assess the positives and negatives that those reforms brought; questioning whether the level of care has in fact, despite guarantees given at the time, decreased as a result of it not being institutionally based.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Bhui, K., Shanahan, L. and Harding, G. (2006). ‘Homelessness and mental illness: A literature review and a qualitative study of perceptions of the adequacy of care’. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, vol. 52(2), pp. 152-165.
• Cairney, P. (2009). ‘The ‘British policy style’ and mental health: Beyond the headlines’. Journal of Social Policy, vol. 38(4), pp. 1-18.
• Killaspy, H. (2006). ‘From the asylum to community care: Learning from experience’. British Medical Bulletin, vol. 79(1), pp. 245-258.