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Trajectories of psychological distress after prison release: implications for mental health service need in ex-prisoners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2015

E. G. Thomas ,
M. J. Spittal ,
E. B. Heffernan ,
F. S. Taxman ,
R. Alati  and
S. A. Kinner
E. G. Thomas*
Affiliation:
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
M. J. Spittal
Affiliation:
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
E. B. Heffernan
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, Australia
F. S. Taxman
Affiliation:
Criminology, Law & Society, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VI, USA
R. Alati
Affiliation:
School of Public Health and Centre of Youth Substance Abuse Research, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, Australia
S. A. Kinner
Affiliation:
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, Australia Griffith Criminology Institute and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: E. G. Thomas, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Building 2, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02115, USA. (Email: emmathomas@g.harvard.edu)
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Abstract

Background

Understanding individual-level changes in mental health status after prison release is crucial to providing targeted and effective mental health care to ex-prisoners. We aimed to describe trajectories of psychological distress following prison discharge and compare these trajectories with mental health service use in the community.

Method

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was administered to 1216 sentenced adult prisoners in Queensland, Australia, before prison release and approximately 1, 3 and 6 months after release. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify K10 trajectories after release. Contact with community mental health services in the year following release was assessed via data linkage.

Results

We identified five trajectory groups, representing consistently low (51.1% of the cohort), consistently moderate (29.8%), high increasing (11.6%), high declining (5.5%) and consistently very high (1.9%) psychological distress. Mood disorder, anxiety disorder, history of self-harm and risky drug use were risk factors for the high increasing, very high and high declining trajectory groups. Women were over-represented in the high increasing and high declining groups, but men were at higher risk of very high psychological distress. Within the high increasing and very high groups, 25% of participants accessed community mental health services in the first year post-release, for a median of 4.4 contact hours.

Conclusions

For the majority of prisoners with high to very high psychological distress, distress persists after release. However, contact with mental health services in the community appears low. Further research is required to understand barriers to mental health service access among ex-prisoners.

Keywords

Community mental health servicesex-prisonersmental healthpsychological distresstrajectory models
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , February 2016 , pp. 611 - 621
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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