- Title
- Aboriginal mothers in prison in Australia: a study of social, emotional and physical wellbeing
- Creator
- Sullivan, Elizabeth A.; Kendall, Sacha; Cullen, Patricia; Jones, Jocelyn; Sherwood, Juanita; Chang, Sungwon; Baldry, Eileen; Zeki, Reem; Gilles, Marisa; Wilson, Mandy; Butler, Tony; Levy, Michael; Wayland, Sarah
- Relation
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health Vol. 43, Issue 3, p. 241-247
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12892
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Objective: To describe the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of Aboriginal mothers in prison. Methods: Cross-sectional survey, including a Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (5-item version) administered to Aboriginal women who self-identified as mothers. Results: Seventy-seven Aboriginal mothers in New South Wales (NSW) and 84 in Western Australia (WA) participated in the study. Eighty-three per cent (n=59) of mothers in NSW were in prison for drug-related offences, 64.8% (n=46) of mothers in WA were in prison for offences committed under the influence of alcohol. Sixty-eight per cent (n=52) of mothers in NSW and 35% (n=28) of mothers in WA reported mental health problems. Physical (PCS) and Mental (MCS) component scores of SF-12 varied for mothers in NSW and WA. Mothers in NSW experienced poorer health and functioning than mothers in WA (NSW: PCS 49.5, MCS 40.6; WA: PCS 54.4, MCS 48.3) and high levels of psychological distress (NSW: 13.1; WA 10.1). Conclusions: Aboriginal mothers in prison have significant health needs associated with physical and mental health, and psychological distress. Implications for public health: Adoption of social and emotional wellbeing as an explanatory framework for culturally secure healthcare in prison is essential to improving health outcomes of Aboriginal mothers in prison in Australia.
- Subject
- mothers; prisoner health; social and emotional wellbeing; mental health; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1408329
- Identifier
- uon:35826
- Identifier
- ISSN:1326-0200
- Rights
- © 2019. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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