Description
- Abstract:
- Background & Aims. Chronic diseases in prisons are a significant problem, with at least 50% of those incarcerated in state and federal prisons estimated to have a chronic medical condition. Moreover, the percentage of the incarcerated population who are over 55 years old is rising, and chronic diseases are also significantly more prevalent in older individuals. Prisons were never designed to accommodate the needs of an aging population; thus, the older prison population is especially vulnerable to excess morbidity and premature mortality. This review seeks to understand the perceived barriers to medical care among those in United States prisons who have been diagnosed with any chronic disease. Methods. A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Embase. Covidence was used to manage the data, and common themes were extracted through NVivo. Studies were eligible to be included if they were conducted in the United States, presented a population of inmates that were explicitly classified to have a chronic disease, and measured perspectives of healthcare inside of prisons. Retrospective accounts of care in prison from released individuals were included as well. Results. Searches yielded 234 unique studies. After abstract and full text screening, 5 studies were included in the analysis. The most reported barriers include inability to afford co-pays (5 out of 5 studies), provider actions and attitudes (5 out of 5 studies), distrust towards providers (5 out of 5 studies), issues with medications (5 out of 5 studies), fear of punishment (3 out of 5 studies), and administrative obstacles (5 out of 5 studies). Fear of punishment includes fear of being written-up for no longer presenting symptoms at the time of the medical appointment or for asking too many questions during a medical visit. Conclusions. Those with chronic diseases in United States prisons face significant hurdles to seeking and receiving appropriate medical care. Barriers to receiving care range from structural barriers (costs), interpersonal (i.e., distrust), and interact with the nature of carceral settings (i.e., fear of punishment). A future analysis can investigate provider and prison staff perspectives on the barriers presented in this review.
- Notes:
- Thesis (M. P. H.)--Brown University, 2024
Citation
Kim, Alison Esther Eun-suh,
"A Systematic Review on the Barriers to Healthcare Among those with Chronic Diseases in United States Prisons"
(2024).
Public Health Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:bw753rfw/
Relations
Collection:
-
Public Health Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Public Health department....