Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Incarceration On Prisoners Diagnosed With Mental Health Conditions: Trauma, Treatment, And Transitioning, Ingria S. Haywood

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A mental illness is a medical disorder that affects a person’s behavior, thoughts, and emotions. It also has an impact on social and cognitive functions. Misuse of substances, biological factors, or abuse, whether as a victim or a bystander to repeated abuse, are all variables that contribute to mental illness. The prevalence of mental illness among incarcerated prisoners is alarming, and it is nondiscriminatory in that it affects both men and women. Several variables contribute to inmates’ susceptibility to mental health problems. Anxiety disorders, depression as a mood disorder, dementia, and schizophrenia are examples of these. A diagnosis of mental …

The Effect Of Focused Client Education On Case Management & Readmission Rates In Homeless Individuals With Co-Occurring Disorders Admitted To A Jail Diversion Program, Pallavi Rao, Mary Johnson

Graduate Publications and Other Selected Works - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Background: Individuals with both mental illness(es) (MI) and substance use disorder (SUD) occurring simultaneously are known as having co-occurring disorders (COD). The rates of COD found among homeless individuals (H-COD) are higher than in the general population. The presence of both conditions prevents H-COD individuals from overcoming their hardships and places them at a higher risk of being involved in the criminal justice system.

Local Problem: Jail diversion programs (JDPs) admit a high rate of H-COD clients nationally and locally at the project site in Knoxville (JDP-K). The Office on Homelessness reported about 80% of those admitted to JDP-K are …

The Effect Of Transfer Of Care Protocol On The Rehospitalization Rates In Psychiatric Patients, Fernando Guillen Msn, Cnp, Pmhnp-Bc

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: The problem involved the transition of psychiatric care from long psychiatric hospitalizations to community-based psychiatric treatment which has developed into shorter inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations, which in turn has developed into a significantly higher number of individuals being readmitted within one year of inpatient discharge.

PICOT: In adult patients undergoing inpatient acute psychiatric care (P), how does the use of a transfer of care protocol (I), compared to current transfer of care practice (C), affect the rate of readmission within 30 days for inpatient acute psychiatric care (O), in 10 weeks?

Evidence: The evidence from an extensive literature review …

Through The Cracks: The Disposition Of Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders In The Post-Asylum Era, Briana Tillman, Erin Smith, Alicia Cho, Colt Kennington, Alexandra Kreis

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This paper aims to explore current disposition options for patients with psychosis in light of shifts toward community care and changes in mental healthcare funding in the post-asylum era and to propose systemic-level improvements based upon local successes. It evaluates critiques of long-term psychiatric care programs, claims of transinstitutionalization to incarceration, shelters, and emergency rooms, and programs initiated to address deinstitutionalization. The authors conclude that while Assertive Community Treatment, Partial Hospitalization Programs, intermediate-level care, and housing interventions can improve outcomes for many persons with psychotic illness, a significant portion of these patients would still be best served in long-term psychiatric …

Mental Illness As A Vulnerability For Sexual Assault: A Retrospective Study Of 7,455 Sexual Assault Forensic Medical Examinations, Leslie Miles, Julie L. Valentine, Linda Mabey, Nancy R. Downing

Faculty Publications

Background: Persons with severe mental illness (MI) are at a high risk of becoming victims of sexual assault (SA). Vulnerability for SA with any type of MI is unknown. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of preexisting MI and other significant factors in patients reporting preexisting MI at the time of their SA medical forensic examinations (SAMFEs).

Method: A retrospective SAMFE chart review of patients ( N = 7,455) from 2010 to 2020 was conducted. Sexual assault nurse examiners completed SAMFEs. Inclusion criteria included (a) aged 14 years and older, (b) completed SAMFE with SA kit evidence collection, and …

Advancing Behavioral Health Literacy, James Scollione

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Accessing, comprehending, and using information to make informed decisions and improve one’s overall health or well-being are the foci of health literacy. The concept of behavioral health was introduced in the early 1980s and, since then, it has influenced new ideas (e.g., behavioral health literacy and integrated behavioral health care) and gained research and public attention. My aim is to provide an overview of definitions (i.e., health literacy, mental health literacy, and behavioral health literacy) and their connection to each other. I propose an expanded and honed definition of behavioral health literacy to enhance the behavioral health literacy and well-being …

A Systematic Review Of Mental Illness, Criminogenic Risk, And The U.S. Prison System, Eliza Esquibel

Student Works

The incarceration rates in the United States are the highest in the world. Within the U.S. prison population, mental illness is overrepresented as compared to the general population. The present study examined existing literature that researched the connection between the prison system and mental illness, and the potential solutions to this crisis. The studies looked at focused on psychiatric disorders, substance disorders, and trauma. They also focused on the intersection between race, mental illness, and the prison system, and the intersection between mental illness, gender, and the prison system. These studies revealed a high prevalence of untreated mental illness in …

To What Extent Are Appropriate Resources Provided To Veterans With Mental Illness To Prevent Contact With The Criminal Justice System?, Riley Christine Doyle

Master’s Theses and Projects

United States military veterans are a special population of men and women that have willingly sacrificed their lives to serve their country. They are perceived to be patriotic, honorable, strong, and disciplined people. Unfortunately, veterans are not exempt from committing criminal acts that land them in the criminal justice system. In fact, veterans are highly susceptible to developing mental illnesses and substance use disorders which can ultimately lead to criminal behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent available resources are provided to veterans to help them prevent contact with the criminal justice system. This study …

Front End Justice: Diverting People Affected By Mental Illness From The Criminal Justice System, Ariel Esqueda, Kelliann Kutschke, Matthew Miller, Kayleigh Wendland

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Many of the people caught up in the criminal justice system are non-violent offenders struggling with mental illness, which cannot and should not be addressed through incarceration. Our jails and prisons are ill-equipped to provide effective mental health services. Incarceration compounds the problem by contributing to increased psychological distress. We are relying on the criminal justice system to respond to mental illness, rather than investing fully in the spectrum of mental health care from prevention to recovery. Minnesota must invest in diverting people affected by mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into community-based treatment, services, and supports …

Mental Health Care Transitions From Incarceration, Graham Stratton, Md

Department of Family & Community Medicine Presentations and Grand Rounds

The scope of the problem of mental health and incarceration

• Case & Consideration 1: Severe Mental Illness ○ Brief history of de institutionalization and re institutionalization ○ Philadelphia’s jails at a glance
• Case & Consideration 2: Violence and trauma
• Consideration & Consideration 3: Addiction and substance use
• Models of transitions of care for reentry
• Community teams and resources
• Next steps for a Family Medicine physician

Controlled Observation: The Challenges Of Therapy For The Mentally Ill Incarcerated Population, Esther Tingué

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Popular perception and objective of incarceration is confinement, brutality and in some cases inhumane conditions. But what about the incarcerated population who suffer from the additional burden of mental illness? How does confinement affect mentally ill inmates? This capstone project asks: (1) how do individuals/organizations provide rehabilitative services in this evolved culture of crime and punishment? And (2) how is therapy provided in a restricted environment? I examine these questions from the perspective of the therapist, the person who (in a restricted environment) takes on the responsibility of treating and managing the effects of mental illness for this population.

The Abodamfo: Ghana’S Marginalization Of Their ‘Other’, Rockling Afariwaa

Student Writing

Traditional practices and thinking of most Ghanaians, has kept them from accepting and adapting to the social needs of their mentally ill population. The mentally ill are no longer accused of being witches, hung, or killed, and although the way people perceive and react to the mentally ill, in general, has evolved since the periods of Sigmund Freud, other forms of persecution against them exist in today’s societies. These persecutions are in the form of stigmatization, discrimination, and marginalization. Through Individual stigmatization and structural stigmatizations of mentally ill people in Ghana, by the societies and communities in which they are …

Marginalization And Criminalization Of People With Mental Illness, Ariana Walker

Student Writing

It is worth noting that people with a mental illness or disorder have a stigma around them that dictates how others treat them. With this stigma comes discrimination stemming from an already established opinion and experience with a person who has a mental illness. People who have a mental illness that affects their life are marginalized within our society, which means they get treated differently than the majority. This essay will serve as a discussion of the treatment history of mental disorders, forced institutionalization of the people, the impact deinstitutionalization had, and how this led to today’s problem of criminalization. …

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Examining The Mortality Risk Of A Population With Mental Illness, Glorimar Ortiz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals with mental illness experience increased mortality and premature death. In a sample composed of 88% decedents with mental illness who were Black, the findings from three research studies provided insight about excess and premature mortality, odds of dying by cause of death, and risk factors associated with premature mortality. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the mortality of a population group with mental illness that was served in a public mental health system (PMHS). The ecoepidemiological life course framework for health, disease, and mortality was used to link mechanisms that may influence health and longevity in …

Strengthening Mental Health Awareness Of University Students Using An Online Training Module, Lavern Rosemarie Bourne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Canadian youth pursuing postsecondary education are facing a major mental health crisis. There are substantial gaps between the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a web-based mental health educational intervention was an effective tool with which to increase mental health awareness and help-seeking behaviors of university students. The theory of planned behavior, the help-seeking model, and the technology acceptance model were the theories that guided this study. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental research design, data were collected from 329 undergraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at a university in Eastern …

The Treatment Of People With Mental Illness In The Criminal Justice System: The Example Of Oneida County, New York, Alexander Black '19, Kylie Davis '18, Kenneth Gray '20, Connor O'Shea '18, Alexander Scheuer '18, Samantha Walther '18, Nico Yardas '18, Frank M. Anechiarico, Ralph Eannace, Jennifer Ambrose

Student Scholarship

This publication is two-fold: an executive summary and the report itself. The executive summary provides a general overview of the larger report, on the criminalization of the mentally ill. It begins by summarizing three case studies from the report that concern the intersection of mental health issues and the criminal justice system in Oneida County in New York State. It then provides a brief historical overview of mental health issues and the criminal justice system before going on to discuss the current best practices in addressing the criminalization of the mentally ill, including law-enforcement mechanisms, mental health courts, and reintegration …

Analyzing Differences In Mental Health Treatment Seeking Behavior In Hopkins County, Kentucky, Kathryn Olson Gross

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Rates of mental illnesses are consistently higher in the corrections system at all levels of incarceration. However, local jails are largely unable to meet the mental health needs of their inmates. Considering that there are several barriers to treatment seeking such as stigma, transportation, or availability of services in rural areas already, the treatment seeking behavior of people in jail differs from those not in jail. The objective of this research is to understand the factors that influence treatment seeking behavior among those in jails, and how those factors differ from those not in jail. Overall people in jail had …

Mentally Ill, Or Mentally Ill And Dangerous?: Rethinking Civil Commitments In Minnesota, Eliot T. Tracz

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Potential Biases And Social Stigmas Toward Mental Health On Georgia Southern’S Campus, Brandi N. Hawkins

Honors College Theses

Aims: The purpose of this study is to examine the potential biases and social stigmas toward mental health on Georgia Southern’s campus. The research questions explored are as follows: (1) Are there mental health biases on campus? (2) Are there any differences between college, class status, marital status, race, age, or gender in terms of mental health bias? (3) Do students feel as though there are available resources on campus? (4) Do students feel comfortable reaching out for help?

Methods: Data was collected from 350 undergraduate students over the age of 18 via a Likert-style questionnaire. The questionnaire …

Care For Inmates With Mental Illness: What Can Nurses Do?, Rebecca K. Sakai

Honors Projects

This paper serves to inform nurses of the medical and psychiatric treatment that inmates with mental illness receive and to offer suggestions for treatment interventions. Current practice includes mental health screens, psychotropic medication administration, psychiatric departments, and administrative segregation. The recommended interventions include providing therapy (including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Group Therapy), decreasing administrative segregation, implementing reintegration programs, and training and collaborating with correctional officers.

The Victimization Of The Misconceived: The Mentally Ill In The Criminal Justice System, Margarita Trejo

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

It is unfortunate to say that the number of people who suffer from a serious mental illness has been drastically increasing in the criminal justice system since the late 1960s. This drastic change has captivated the minds of the public, forced them to develop a fallacious stereotype, and labeled the mentally ill population as wrongdoers. This image, however, is inaccurate. In reality, these people are the victims of a broken system. This paper establishes the victimization that a person with a serious mental illness experiences as they are processed through the criminal justice system. The following elaborates how victimization is …

Jails Are Not Treatment Centers, Michael Henning, Rachel Mattick, Cali Turbes

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Currently, in Minnesota alone, there are more individuals with severe mental illness being incarcerated than hospitalized. Blue Earth County's Yellow Line Project (YLP) reported that 83.7% of individuals screened positive for mental illness prior to being booked into jail . Not only does incarcerating individuals with mental illness fill our jails, it prolongs mental illness and time spent away from treatment. Jail diversion programs divert individuals with mental health disorders from the criminal justice system and into appropriate treatment when applicable. For those individuals ineligible for diversion from the criminal justice system, care coordination would be ideal to assist in …

Direct And Indirect Influences Of Defendant Mental Illness On Jury Decision Making, Marie Sabbagh

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

It is a common misconception that individuals with schizophrenia are significantly more dangerous and violent than individuals free of mental illness. This stigmatization may lead to harsher sentences when people with schizophrenia are involved in criminal activities and sentenced by a jury. This study presented four conditions to which participants were randomly assigned, alone or in a group of three, and were asked to sentence a defendant, either with or without schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that group deliberations would result in more lenient sentences for defendants with schizophrenia as compared to individual deliberations. Furthermore, it was predicted that both group …

Causes Of Recidivism Among Mentally Ill Prerelease Offenders From The Perspective Of Former Correctional Mental Health Professionals, Rina Desiree Deneice Bradley Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The move toward reducing the prison population was driven by an increase in the number of reentry programs that focused on the needs of the offender, such as the provision of stable housing, employment, education, and sustaining strong familial bonds. While the literature supported these areas as being effective in reducing recidivism, there was no consensus that they were effective for offenders with mental illness (OMI). The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze the impact of prerelease services for the OMI population from the perspective of former correctional mental health professionals who provided these services. The research questions …

Mental Health In U.S. Prisons: How Our System Is Set Up For Failure, Katherine Daifotis

CMC Senior Theses

During the past 60 years, United States prisons have become one of the primary institutions caring for mentally ill individuals. Factors such as privatization of mental health care with a focus on profit-maximization, ineffective jail diversion programs, and unsuccessful mental health courts have contributed to prisons having an increased population of mentally ill inmates. In fact, about 20% of people who are currently incarcerated suffer from a major mental illness (Mason, 2007). Other elements outside of the justice system such as a lack of mental health awareness and a lack of resources have led to damaging interactions between the mentally …

Mental Health Courts And Sentencing Disparities, E. Lea Johnston, Conor P. Flynn

UF Law Faculty Publications

Despite the proliferation of mental health courts across the United States, virtually no attention has been paid to the criminal justice effects these courts carry for participants. This article provides the first empirical analysis of differential sentencing practices in mental health and traditional criminal courts. Using a case study approach, the article compares how Pennsylvania’s Erie County Mental Health Court and county criminal courts sentenced individuals who committed the same offenses and held the same average criminal history score. Information on the mental health court—including eligibility criteria, plea bargaining and sentencing procedure, sentencing policies, program length, graduation rates, likelihood of …

Recruiting And Retaining Individuals With Serious Mental Illness And Diabetes In Clinical Research: Lessons Learned From A Randomized, Controlled Trial., Stephanie W. Kanuch M.Ed., Kristin A. Cassidy Ma, Neal Dawson Md, Melanie Athey Ms, Edna Fuentes-Casiano Mssw, Martha Sajatovic Md

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Abstract: Recruitment and retention of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and comorbid diabetes mellitus (DM) in research studies can be challenging with major impediments being difficulties reaching participants via telephone contact, logistic difficulties due to lack of transportation, ongoing psychiatric symptoms, and significant medical complications. Research staff directly involved in recruitment and retention processes of this study reviewed their experiences. The largest barriers at the macro, mediator, and micro levels identified in this study were inclement weather, transportation difficulties, and intermittent and inaccessible telephone contact. Barrier work-around practices included using the health system’s EHR to obtain current phone numbers, …

Landscaping In Lockup: The Effects Of Gardening Programs On Prison Inmates, Rachel Jenkins

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

Background: Incarcerated individuals in the United States suffer from
disproportionately poor mental health outcomes.
Objective: This paper examines the effects of prison gardening programs on the psychosocial health of incarcerated individuals in the United States prison system through a systematic review of the literature.
Methods: Databases including Academic Search Premier, Web of Science, PsycArticles, and Google Scholar were used to identify peer-reviewed articles that met inclusion criteria. The quantitative and qualitative results from these articles were compiled and synthesized.
Results: Selected prison gardening programs were shown to increase self-efficacy and self-worth and decrease anxiety in inmates involved in these initiatives. …

Effect Of Case Management On Frequency Of Emergency Department Visits By Persons With Mental Illness: A Systematic Review, Allison M. Stanton, Kayla C. Osoteo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A problem in healthcare is the increasing number of emergency department visits by repeat users with a comorbid mental illness. These visits increase costs, patient wait times, demand for service, overcrowding, and fragmented care; they may decrease quality of care and effective treatment. The purpose of this study is to identify, review, and critically appraise the evidence about the effect of case management on repeat emergency department (ED) use in those with comorbid mental illness. A systematic review of 21 studies was performed. All explored mental illness, frequent visits to the ED, and interventions. These twenty-one studies were reviewed and …