The Effects Of Psychoeducational Group Therapy On Symptoms Of Ptsd, Anxiety And Depression Among Incarcerated Women

In the past thirty years, the incarceration of women has risen exponentially. Poverty, lack of access to education, abuse, addiction, mental health and parenting issues all impact women’s criminality and health before, during and after they are incarcerated (Hannaher, K., 2007). By 2010 there were nearly 206,000 women currently serving time in the criminal justice system. As the years go by, the numbers are constantly increasing (Women Behind Bars, 2015). The number of pregnant women incarcerated has also been on the rise. Most incarcerated women do not receive proper prenatal care before entering the criminal justice system. Because these women are from mostly poverty neighborhoods, they are more likely to endure domestic violence, poor

The incarceration of female offenders has increased from 168.5 to 215.2 between 2010 and 2017 (Russel.S 2017). The decision by the judiciary to send these offenders to prison, many of whom are mothers or have experienced their own physical trauma, fails to achieve just and equitable outcomes for these offenders (Kilroy. D 2016). It is vital that female prisoners receive adequate rehabilitation to ensure a reduction of crime rates within female prisoners and to receive effective aid upon release into the community.

The strength of this proposed study is that it compares different treatment methods that could be reasonably implemented within correctional institutions. Since individual therapy sessions using methods such as ACT or CBT are already implemented in the prison systems, adding certain factors to it to improve the effects of the therapy is a reasonable, implementable change. This allows the study to be conducted within the prison system, even taking into account the limited resources and restrictions one faces when conducting a study within this setting. Another strength, includes the large sample size and the fact that participants did not receive counseling in the facility before their participation in the study, which prevents the results from

Women in the concurrent prison are exposed to many issues, some as a result of their lives before ending up in prison, others from ending up in prison itself. Women in prison have experienced mental and physical abuse, unstable family, issues with work and school and many other issues. Studies shows that national surveys made of women prisoners find that a high rate of them were mothers, half of them having kids under the age of eighteen. Inmates are sent to prison on different locations creating an obstacle on transportation, economic issues and the bond between these.

Prevention is the action of stopping something from happening or arising. The goal of prevention is intended to prevent major problems of living (McCave &Rishel, 2011). For, the purposes of this paper I will focus incarcerated women and the issues that they face upon being released from prison and returning to their communities. Following a description of the population, the particular issues are discussed; focusing on stigma associated with incarceration, the lack of community resources and re-establishing a family life, including regaining both, legal and physical custody of children. I will conclude this paper with a discussion of practices and policies that improve the quality of social services to women released from prison.

On average, women make up about 7 percent of the total federal and state incarcerated population in the United States. This has increased since the 1980s due to stricter and more severe laws that focus on recreational drug use, a lack of community programs, and fewer treatment centers available for outpatients (Zaitow and Thomas, eds., 2003). According to the National Women's Law Centers, women prisoners report a higher than statistically normal history of domestic violence in their immediate past, and the fastest growing prison population with a disproportionate number of non-Whites forming over 60 percent of the population. In fact, over 30 percent of women in prison are serving sentences for murder involving a spouse or partner. The incarceration of women presents far different cultural and sociological issues than those of men issues with children, family, sexual politics and more (NWLC, 2012).

The National Commission on Correctional Health Care released a position statement on how important women's health care is in prisons and to guide administration in managing women's health care in these facilities. The position statement covers the following subtopics: gynecological, pregnancy, postpartum, parenting services, sexual and physical abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, sexually transmitted disease, family planning, mental health, aging, and nutrition and diet. Through these sections, the organization discusses the numerous statistics and research accompanied and related to the subtopics. These subtopics were the preface to NCCHC's position statement and served as a "backing" for their position statement. The Position Statement covers

The group was a court mandated anger management group for women who were the perpetrator of domestic violence and it was a condition for their release from jail. One unanticipated consequence of the creation of pro-arrest policies for domestic violence has been an increase in the number of females arrested for aggressive acts against their partners; many of these women are being mandated into treatment programs as a stipulation of probation (Dowd et al., 2005)

Prisoner-on-prisoner sexual aggression and rape among people in prison is a serious issue with a longstanding history. Trauma histories and institutional violence are two serious problems faced by a multitude of women currently in prison. Women’s prisons have a high rate of institutional violence, with inmates being both victims and perpetrators of sexual assault. More U.S. women are currently incarcerated than ever before. In fact, it was found that the rate of increase of incarceration among females is actually greater than that of males in many different classes of crimes (Brown, 2011). Three of the ten U.S. prisons with the highest rates of inmate-reported sexual violence were actually women 's prisons, with 10.8% of inmates at an Indiana prison, 10.3% at a California prison, and 9.5% at a Texas prison reported being sexually victimized while incarcerated (Beck & Harrison, 2008). This research shows that female inmate-on-inmate violence tends to be less than that among male inmates, but rates are still high enough to warrant concern. For example, Beck, Harrison, and Adams (2007) found that female inmates were the victims in 18% of all alleged cases of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence reported by prison authorities in 2006.

Spending time in jail can be a very traumatizing experience for women, as their prison system is copying the male model. This does not take into the account the specific discriminations that women face before, during and after their sentences. As previously mentioned, the majority of women in prison have a history of enduring physical and sexual abuse at some point in their lifetime. While in prison women are far more likely than men to encounter sexual assault (14). Between 2009 and 2011, although women only represented about 13% of people in local jails, they accounted for 67% of victims of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization (14). Viewing prison as a form of restorative justice can be a harmful solution, because in the specific cases of women and mothers, they are often worse off after serving their punishment because of what they endure during that time. Prisons continue to act as a means to punish criminals, but it fails to solve the inmates problems, because the time they spend in prison often does not prepare them for their release, and can actually be more harmful to their mental and physical well being, than if they were not

All the women that are identified will have a pre-assessment test by some designated physicians. The aim is to note their psychological status and identify any psychiatric disorder. After this, the participants will be grouped into two; the intervention group and the control group. Those that are under the intervention group will be provided assess to DV resources, including psychologists, social workers, crisis hotlines, sexual assault crisis centers, counseling services, and women’s shelters, as well as physician visits. While the other group will not be given the privileges that the intervention group has. Both groups will be monitored for a period of 12months and will be re-evaluated by the physicians. The physicians will evaluate their psychological status and the trend in any pre-identified psychiatric disorder of both groups. Information will be gathered on any developed or resolved posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic disease, depression, improved quality of life and mental

For years, most of the country’s correctional institutions have been designed and run for male inmates. Until recently, women made up only about 7 percent of the inmate population, but the female prison population has exploded compared to the males and this has drawn attention to looking at and changing the classification of female offenders (Smith, 2012). Does there need to be a difference between the sexes for classification? If one truly looks at the differences between men and women, the answer is a definite yes.

al., p. 390). Thus this research study being done fills a gap to the existing knowledge and will hopefully provide better treatment options for incarcerated women with mental illness. The use of direct quotes was minimal throughout the article. The research problem has significance to nursing, however this was not made very clear in the article.

According to Levenson, Prescott and D’Amora (2010) in an exit interview for inpatient program for prisoners in California client feedback indicated that relapse prevention, individual therapy, stress and anger management, and behavioral therapy were ranked as most important to their recovery whereas the least important area identified was sex education (p. 309). Additional feedback included that group cohesion and supportive therapists are associated with reductions in pro-offending attitudes over the course of treatment; majority believed that learning how to meet their needs in more adaptive ways and creating more satisfying lives for themselves were very important and clients rated accountability and victim empathy as the most important

Release Our Chains is indeed a program whose focus is to support the female inmate population who are constantly being forced to deal with their incarceration and their drug addiction. Katelyn’s peer critiques pointed out some unclear points within my treatment program. She suggested that I implement the Women Offender Case Management Model (WOCMM) which incorporates the six-primary gender-responsive principles, according to Van Voorhis and Salisbury (2014). After researching WOCMM, I found that the applying this model into my program will allow a merging of gender responsive and evidence based practice to take place. By using the concept of the Women Offender Case Management Model, my program will be able to create other methods of approach to better benefit the participants. Newer approaches would consist of not only providing gender responsive practice, but also individualized services, team approaches, comprehensive practices, and collaborative practices that will allow me to better test the program integrity and outcome evaluation.