IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i1p114-d62024.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in Depression and Stress after Release from a Tobacco-Free Prison in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Jacob J. Van den Berg

    (Division of Infectious Diseases, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Avenue, Providence, RI 02906, USA)

  • Mary B. Roberts

    (Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA)

  • Beth C. Bock

    (Centers for Behavioral & Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Coro West, Suite 309, 164 Summit Avenue, Providence, RI 02906, USA)

  • Rosemarie A. Martin

    (Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Box G-S121-4, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • L.A.R. Stein

    (Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Chafee Hall, 142 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA)

  • Donna R. Parker

    (Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA)

  • Arthur R. McGovern

    (Department of Psychology, Nichols College, 129 Center Road, Dudley, MA 01571, USA)

  • Sarah Hart Shuford

    (Brown University School of Public Health, 121 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • Jennifer G. Clarke

    (Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA)

Abstract

Prior research has found high levels of depression and stress among persons who are incarcerated in the United States (U.S.). However, little is known about changes in depression and stress levels among inmates post-incarceration. The aim of this study was to examine changes in levels of depression and stress during and after incarceration in a tobacco-free facility. Questionnaires that included valid and reliable measures of depression and stress were completed by 208 male and female inmates approximately eight weeks before and three weeks after release from a northeastern U.S. prison. Although most inmates improved after prison, 30.8% had a worsening in levels of depression between baseline and the three-week follow-up. In addition, 29.8% had a worsening in levels of stress after release than during incarceration. While it is not surprising that the majority of inmates reported lower levels of depression and stress post-incarceration, a sizable minority had an increase in symptoms, suggesting that environmental stressors may be worse in the community than in prison for some inmates. Further research is needed to address depression and stress levels during and after incarceration in order for inmates to have a healthier transition back into the community and to prevent repeat incarcerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob J. Van den Berg & Mary B. Roberts & Beth C. Bock & Rosemarie A. Martin & L.A.R. Stein & Donna R. Parker & Arthur R. McGovern & Sarah Hart Shuford & Jennifer G. Clarke, 2016. "Changes in Depression and Stress after Release from a Tobacco-Free Prison in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:114-:d:62024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/114/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/114/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ashley Elizabeth Muller & Ingrid Amalia Havnes & Eline Borger Rognli & Anne Bukten, 2018. "Inmates with Harmful Substance Use Increase Both Exercise and Nicotine Use Under Incarceration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:114-:d:62024. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.