Expanding Knowledge About and Evaluating Services for Incarcerated Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Arkansas

Growing Together: Expanding Knowledge About and Evaluating Services for Incarcerated Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Arkansas

Incarcerated pregnant women are a largely invisible special population with great need for health care and advocacy. The number of women who are incarcerated in the U.S. has increased over 750%, or from 13,258 in 1980 to 111,616 in 2016. Arkansas has the 8th highest number of incarcerated women in the nation, 60% higher than the national average. As the number of incarcerated women has risen, so too has the need for jails and prisons to address women's health needs, including pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. Nationally, over 75% of incarcerated women are of childbearing age and about are pregnant upon intake. However, little is known about the population of women who have become incarcerated while pregnant in Arkansas - including the outcomes of these women and their children and how these outcomes may vary in relation to services that are received during incarceration. This research study aims to first expand knowledge on incarcerated women in Arkansas by using administrative data to retrospectively examine the health status and outcomes of pregnant women who were incarcerated in state prison by Arkansas over a five-year period (Aim 1). Then, the investigators will lay the groundwork for and subsequently analyze prospectively gathered outcomes of women in Arkansas state prisons by supplementing administratively-collected data with in-person data collection (Aim 2). This prospectively-gathered data will include records of: 1) self-report responses to surveys about their health and mental health, 2) women's participation or nonparticipation in elements of programming for incarcerated pregnant women that was recently launched by Arkansas Department of Correction in collaboration with the study PI (i.e., Growing Together), and 3) self-report responses to surveys about the elements of Growing Together. The Growing Together program elements that are currently active and that will be evaluated under this protocol are a lactation program, lactation education, and a mental health support group. The investigators will also pilot and conduct an open-label evaluation of an additional program component, doula support, with a sample of up to 24 incarcerated women (Aim 3). Assessment of the program components in Aims 2 and 3 will focus on evaluating acceptability to the population and feasibility.

Expanding Knowledge About and Evaluating Services for Incarcerated Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Arkansas

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