Department of Public Health, Headington, Oxford, UK.
Public Health. 2011 Jun;125(6):349-56. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2011.01.014.
The numbers of female and ethnic minority prisoners in the UK are increasing. Despite recent policy initiatives to improve both prison healthcare and the status of women and ethnic minority groups, there are few data with which to inform service development. This is the first study in the UK to examine differences in subjective health status and health behaviours between Black and White female prisoners.
Retrospective secondary analysis of data from the Health of Women in Prison Study by the University of Oxford. The latter was a longitudinal survey.
Participants were given a questionnaire containing the Short Form 36 (SF-36) and questions about cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, physical exercise, diet, imprisonment history and ethnicity. Data from Black and White participants were compared. Physical and mental component summary scores from the SF-36 were assessed using the independent t-test for means. Differences in health behaviours between the Black and White women were assessed using a paired samples t-test for continuous variables or Chi-squared test for categorical data.
Black women were more likely to have stayed in full-time education for longer and to have been legally employed prior to imprisonment. The average length of their current sentence was significantly higher than that for White women. Black women scored higher in general health perception, but there were no other significant differences in subjective health status. Significantly fewer Black women smoked or drank to excess, or had used drugs in the 6 months prior to imprisonment. Black women ate more healthily, but were more likely to be overweight and to have higher blood pressure than their White counterparts. Both groups, however, demonstrated poor health and health behaviours overall.
Black women entering prison are more likely to be educated, employed, drug free and, in some ways, healthier than White women. However, all the prisoners, regardless of ethnicity, had poorer levels of mental and physical health than the general population; thus, a need exists for researchers and policy makers alike to examine the health of these groups within and out of prison.
英国女性和少数族裔囚犯的数量正在增加。尽管最近有政策举措旨在改善监狱医疗保健以及妇女和少数族裔群体的地位，但几乎没有数据可以为服务发展提供信息。这是英国第一项研究，旨在检查黑人和白人女性囚犯之间主观健康状况和健康行为的差异。
牛津大学妇女在监狱中的健康研究的回顾性二次分析。后者是一项纵向调查。
参与者接受了一份问卷，其中包含简明健康调查问卷 36 项（SF-36）和关于吸烟、饮酒、吸毒、体育锻炼、饮食、监禁史和种族的问题。比较了黑人参与者和白人参与者的数据。使用独立样本 t 检验评估 SF-36 的身体和心理成分综合评分。使用连续变量的配对样本 t 检验或分类数据的卡方检验评估黑人妇女和白人妇女之间健康行为的差异。
黑人妇女接受全日制教育的时间更长，在入狱前更有可能合法就业。她们目前的刑期平均长度明显高于白人妇女。黑人妇女对总体健康感知的评分较高，但在主观健康状况方面没有其他显著差异。黑人妇女吸烟或酗酒过量或在入狱前 6 个月内使用毒品的人数明显较少。黑人妇女的饮食更健康，但超重和血压较高的可能性高于白人妇女。然而，两组人都表现出总体健康状况不佳和健康行为不佳。
进入监狱的黑人妇女受教育程度、就业情况、无吸毒史的可能性以及在某些方面比白人妇女更健康。然而，所有囚犯，无论种族如何，其心理健康和身体健康状况都比一般人群差；因此，研究人员和政策制定者都需要研究这些群体在监狱内外的健康状况。
