Measuring and evaluating the quality of hepatitis B vaccination programs in prison settings

Abstract

Current custodial policies in Australasia are geared towards adopting a public health approach towards improving the quality of prison health services in line with community health standards. Although hepatitis B vaccination is included as a core public health intervention for prisoners, little information is available regarding reliable and valid approaches to quality measurement and evaluation of hepatitis B vaccination programs. This article proposes an indicator-based quality measurement approach and a matrix-based quality evaluation approach that focus on relationships between hepatitis B vaccination quality components and patients’ (prisoners) needs.