Carolyn Sufrin, Sara Baird, Jennifer Clarke and Elizabeth Feldman
Incarcerated women around the globe are predominantly of reproductive age. Most of these women have been pregnant before, and many want to be sexually active and avoid pregnancy…
Abstract
Purpose
Incarcerated women around the globe are predominantly of reproductive age. Most of these women have been pregnant before, and many want to be sexually active and avoid pregnancy upon release. Yet few of these women are on a regular method of contraception. Providing contraceptive services for women in custody benefits individual and public health goals of reducing unintended pregnancy. This policy briefing reviews evidence for an unmet need for family planning in the correctional setting, and policy implications for expanding services. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe four model programs in the USA with established contraceptive services on site, highlighting practical steps other facilities can implement.
Findings
Correctional facilities health administrators, providers, advocates, and legislators should advance policies which should counsel women on family planning and should make a range of contraceptive methods available before release, while remaining sensitive to the potential pressure these women may feel to use birth control in this unique environment.
Practical implications
Family planning services for incarcerated women benefits individuals, facilities, and the community.
Social implications
Policies which enable correctional facilities to provide comprehensive family planning to incarcerated women – including reproductive life goals counseling and contraceptive method provision – promote equity in access to critical reproductive health services and also provide broad scale population level benefits in preventing unintended pregnancy or enabling counseling for healthy pregnancies for a group of women who often have limited access to such services.
Originality/value
This policy briefing highlights an area of health care in prisons and jails which gets little attention in research and in policy circles: family planning services for incarcerated women. In addition to reviewing the importance of such services for this population, the authors also highlight model family planning programs in correctional facilities. These provide actionable insights for other administrators and providers.
Details
Keywords
Stephanie Grace Prost, Cynthia Golembeski, Vyjeyanthi S. Periyakoil, Jalayne Arias, Andrea K. Knittel, Jessica Ballin, Heather D. Oliver and Nguyen-Toan Tran
The targeted use of standardized outcome measures (SOMs) of mental health in research with older adults who are incarcerated promotes a common language that enables…
Abstract
Purpose
The targeted use of standardized outcome measures (SOMs) of mental health in research with older adults who are incarcerated promotes a common language that enables interdisciplinary dialogue, contributes to the identification of disparities and supports data harmonization and subsequent synthesis. This paper aims to provide researchers with rationale for using “gold-standard” measures used in research with community-dwelling older adults, reporting associated study sample psychometric indexes, and detailing alterations in the approach or measure.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors highlight the mental health of older adults who are incarcerated. They also discuss the benefits of SOMs in practice and research and then identify gold-standard measures of mental health used in research with community-dwelling older adults and measures used in research with older adults who are incarcerated. Finally, the authors provide several recommendations related to the use of SOMs of mental health in research with this population.
Findings
Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are common among older adults who are incarcerated. Researchers have used a variety of measures to capture these mental health problems, some parallel to those used with community-dwelling samples. However, a more targeted use of SOMs of mental health in research with this population will contribute to important strides in this burgeoning field.
Originality/value
This review offers several practical recommendations related to SOMs of mental health in research with older adults who are incarcerated to contribute to a rigorous evidence base and thus inform practice and potentially improve the health and well-being of this population.