Hwang Ye In Jane, Hampton Stephen, Withall Adrienne Lee, Snoyman Phillip, Forsyth Katrina, Butler Tony
School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
Ageing Futures Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
Health Justice. 2024 Apr 19;12(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40352-024-00271-y.
As populations age globally, cooperation across multi-sector stakeholders is increasingly important to service older persons, particularly those with high and complex health and social needs. One such population is older people entering society after a period of incarceration in prison. The 'ageing epidemic' in prisons worldwide has caught the attention of researchers, governments and community organisations, who identify challenges in servicing this group as they re-enter the community. Challenges lie across multiple sectors, with inadequate support leading to dire consequences for public health, social welfare and recidivism. This is the first study to bring together multi-sector stakeholders from Australia to form recommendations for improving health and social outcomes for older people re-entering community after imprisonment.
A modified nominal group technique was used to produce recommendations from N = 15 key stakeholders across prison health, corrections, research, advocacy, aged care, community services, via online workshops. The importance and priority of these recommendations was validated by a broader sample of N = 44 stakeholders, using an online survey. Thirty-six recommendations for improving outcomes for this population were strongly supported. The key issues underlying the recommendations included: improved multi-stakeholder systems and services, targeted release preparation and practices that ensure continuity of care, advocacy-focused initiatives in the community, and extended funding for effective programs.
There is consensus across stakeholders on ways forward, with intervention and policy updates required at the individual, systems and community levels. These recommendations entail two important findings about this population: (1) They are a high-needs, unique, and underserved group at risk of significant health and social inequity in the community, (2) Multi-sector stakeholder cooperation will be crucial to service this growing group.
随着全球人口老龄化，多部门利益相关者之间的合作对于为老年人，特别是那些有高度复杂健康和社会需求的老年人提供服务变得越来越重要。其中一类人群是刑满出狱后进入社会的老年人。全球监狱中的“老龄化流行”已引起研究人员、政府和社区组织的关注，他们发现为这一群体重新融入社区提供服务存在挑战。挑战涉及多个部门，支持不足会给公共卫生、社会福利和再犯率带来严重后果。这是第一项汇集澳大利亚多部门利益相关者，就改善刑满出狱后重新融入社区的老年人的健康和社会成果提出建议的研究。
通过在线研讨会，采用改良的名义群体技术，让监狱卫生、惩教、研究、宣传倡导老龄护理、社区服务等领域的15名关键利益相关者提出建议。通过在线调查，由44名利益相关者组成的更广泛样本对这些建议的重要性和优先性进行了验证。36条改善这一群体状况的建议得到了大力支持。这些建议背后的关键问题包括：改进多利益相关者系统和服务、有针对性的释放准备以及确保护理连续性的做法、社区中以宣传倡导为重点的举措，以及为有效项目提供更多资金。
利益相关者在前进方向上达成了共识，需要在个人、系统和社区层面进行干预并更新政策。这些建议得出了关于这一群体的两个重要发现：（1）他们是一个需求高、独特且服务不足的群体，在社区中面临重大健康和社会不平等的风险；（2）多部门利益相关者合作对于为这一不断壮大的群体提供服务至关重要。
