Health Education for Women Released from Prison in Brazil: Barriers and Possibilities for Intervention

Abstract

The aim of this work is to present the results of research carried out in a city in the interior of São Paulo that sought to understand the health needs of women released from prisons in the region who are cared for at a Center for Attention to Egress and Family (CAEF) as well as the barriers they report in obtaining support, discussing them in light of educational health interventions described in the international literature. This study conducted formative research to identify the themes and issues that should be included in educational material. Data were collected through body-map storytelling and semi-structured interviews with six and twenty women released from prison, respectively, and nine interviews with professionals from the CAEF and the health sector of a women’s penitentiary in the study location. The main health demands of the women identified in the study were chronic diseases, mental health, gynecological problems, and sexually transmitted diseases, which constitute individual barriers and are aggravated by others of a relational, institutional, and political-systemic nature. It is hoped that the present study will inspire new interventions to be considered in the Brazilian context based on these results.