Addressing Unmet Needs in Incarcerated Women With Co-occurring Disorders

Abstract

This article will present findings related to critical needs in a group of 281 incarcerated women with co-occurring disorders. The women completed interviews while incarcerated and again at various time points after community reentry. Findings revealed that the number of basic needs increased over time, and a low level of social support was related to negative outcomes. Recommendations for this population include holistic evaluation assessments and integrated treatment plans that encourage staff to comprehensively assess clients at intake and link them to support services during and after incarceration. Implications of this female empowerment model will be discussed.

Provider Experiences with Prison Care and Aftercare for Women with Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Treatment, Resource, and Systems Integration Challenges

“…Female offenders with COD have greater aftercare needs but are less likely than women with substance use disorder alone to complete substance use aftercare programs 21, 22. The fragmented nature of the criminal justice and affiliated mental health and substance use service systems,8, 9, 23–25 low rates of insurance coverage and Medicaid enrollment experienced by reentering women,15, 26 and the complex psychiatric and psychosocial challenges and numerous barriers to care faced by women with COD27, 28 complicate successful reentry and aftercare linkage for this population.…”

Social Support Among Substance Using Women with Criminal Justice Involvement

“…Access to tangible resources is sorely needed among women with criminal justice involvement who are typically single parents, living in poverty, undereducated, unskilled, unemployed, marginally housed, and victims of childhood and adult physical and/or sexual trauma (Richie & Johnsen, 1996; Salina, et al, 2011). In light of these stressors, results in the present study are aligned with Thoits’ (1995) theory of social support either in that tangible support complements abstinence social support or that the needs of women with criminal justice involvement who have substance use disorders outweigh the potential benefits of abstinence social support.…”

“…On the other hand, stressors associated with incarceration, low socioeconomic status (Freudenberg, Daniels, Crum, Perkins, & Richie, 2005) and trauma histories (Grella, Stein, & Greenwell, 2005) may pose great challenges to well-being and reintegration among women with criminal justice involvement. For instance, Salina, Lesondak, Razzano, and Parenti (2011) found significant negative relationships between social support, and frequencies of various traumatic stressors (trauma symptoms, being forced to have sex, exposure to verbal and physical abuse) among a sample of women with criminal justice involvement who reported many unmet needs (e.g., housing, employment, financial, mental health services). However, an examination of various social supports in relation to recovery resources has yet to be investigated.…”

“…Although it is reasonable to expect high levels of abstinence social support would be related to increased abstinence self-efficacy as evidenced by research with clinical and community samples, this relationship might not be significant among women with criminal justice involvement who have substance use disorders because of the tremendous stressors and unmet needs these women experience (Freudenberg et al, 2005; Grella et al, 2005; Salina et al, 2011). …”

Romance, recovery and community re-entry for criminal justice-involved women: conceptualizing and measuring intimate relationship factors and power

“…Women-specific challenges include the motherhood of minor children, untreated mental disorders, substance abuse problems, minority status, poverty or economic disadvantage, and lack of post-release social supports (Bloom, 1996; Bloom, Owen & Covington, 2004; Holfreter, Reising&Morash, 2004; Mallik-Kane &Visher, 2008; Steffensmeier & Allen, 1996). Because of these multiple challenges, women, when compared with men, report a greater need for tangible community resources, such as safe housing, education and employment opportunities, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, as well as basic food and clothing needs (Alegmano, 2001; O’Brien & Lee, 2007; Salina, Lesondak, Razzano & Parenti, 2011). …”