Mother–infant separations in prison. A systematic attachment-focused policy review

Abstract

Mothers in prison separated from their young children are an overlooked group. Attachment theory could provide a useful model to underpin interventions and better support women affected by separation from their infants. Current policy draws on a limited body of evidence and research has developed considerably since its first design. This review systematically searched all relevant UK prison policy and government documents with regards to mother and child separation in prison and analysed the extent to which these documents draw on attachment theory. Following initial searches, 58 documents were thematically analysed. Attachment was implicitly referred to in most documents but only explicitly mentioned in four. Global themes identified included ‘separation as trauma’. However, document groups varied in focusing either on the mother or the child and there were no joint perspectives. Developing and researching specific attachment-informed interventions might be one way forward as would further attachment-based research in this area.     

What does recovery mean to a forensic mental health patient? A systematic review and narrative synthesis of the qualitative literature

This is a systematic review and narrative synthesis of qualitative literature for forensic mental health patients’ perceptions of recovery. Relevant databases were searched and a total of 11 studies that fit the inclusion criteria were identified. Thematic Synthesis was applied to synthesise the collated themes into six superordinate themes: connectedness, sense of self, coming to terms with the past, freedom, hope and health and intervention. Two superordinate themes were particularly prevalent: connectedness and a sense of self. It is argued that a focus on increasing opportunities for forensic mental health patients to develop a sense of self and connectedness could help improve recovery. Future recommendations to expand on these findings include using grounded theory methods to develop theoretical understanding of the data.     

Public health and the development of infant mortality in Germany, 1875–1930

The substantial increase in life expectancy over the past 150 years can largely be attributed to a drastic decline in infant mortality. In the continuing debate about the reasons for this development, recent research has focused attention on the role of public health. Since the 1870s in Germany, municipal and national public health strategies were launched. One major element of this policy was the fight against high infant mortality rates in urban areas. The establishment of municipal milk supplies and the creation of infant welfare centers attacked gastrointestinal disorders, the predominant cause of death among infants. This article investigates these developments in the largest German cities, particularly Düsseldorf, which is located in one of the most industrialized regions.     

A review of developments and changes in the world＇s constitutions

The constitution is a living document, which being the case, there is a need to increase the understanding of the constitution through systematic research and teaching at various levels. This paper aims to be a catalyst that inspires creative action to claim and advance certain new constitutional rights encapsulated in various world＇s constitutions. It seeks to raise awareness of new constitutional rights. World＇s most constitutions have incorporated constitutional provisions that ensure the entrenched new fundamental human rights. The latest constitutions, including South African constitution of 1996 are advanced and have included significant number of rights which were left out in the old constitutions. The courts are given the widest possible powers to develop and forge new remedies for protection of constitutional rights and the enforcement of constitutional duties.     

Confidence in the police: Balancing public image with community safety – A comparative review of the literature

Examining the evolution of British and Australian policing, this comparative review of the literature considers the historical underpinnings of policing in these two countries and the impact of community legitimacy derived from the early concepts of policing by consent. Using the August 2011 disorder in Britain as a lens, this paper considers whether, in striving to maintain community confidence, undue emphasis is placed on the police's public image at the expense of community safety. Examining the path of policing reform, the impact of bureaucracy on policing and the evolving debate surrounding police performance, this review suggests that, while largely delivering on the ideal of an ethical and strong police force, a preoccupation with self-image may in fact result in tarnishing the very thing British and Australian police forces strive to achieve – their standing with the public. This paper advocates for a more realistic goal of gaining public respect rather than affection in order to achieve the difficult balance between maintaining trust and respect as an approachable, ethical entity providing firm, confident policing in this ever-evolving, modern society.     

Pregnancy in prison,Mother and Baby Unit admission and impacts on perinatal depression and ‘quality of life’

Limited research exists on the impact of prison mother and baby unit (MBU) residence. Research in the UK suggests women in MBUs have lower prevalence of mental disorder. Higher rates of mother-child attachment for women in prison nurseries in the US have been reported. Eighty-five pregnant women were interviewed at baseline and 62 followed up in nine different prisons. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to measure perinatal depression; the World Health Organisation Quality of Life (WHOQOL – BREF), for quality of life; and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) for mother-child bonding. EPDS scores were higher at baseline than follow-up. Women admitted to MBUs had lower EPDS scores at baseline and follow-up, and this reduction was greater than for women not admitted to MBUs. WHO-QOL scores were higher at follow-up than baseline on all domains, except the social domain for those not admitted to MBUs. Findings suggest women with perinatal depression are less likely to be admitted to MBUs, and MBU placement may contribute to a reduction in perinatal depression. Increased QOL-BREF scores at follow-up suggest improved quality of life for all participants. Reduced support post-separation may contribute to lower social domain scores for women not admitted to MBUs.     

Do religious programs in prison work? A quasi-experimental evaluation in the Israeli prison service

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Despite the prevalence of religious-oriented rehabilitation programs, few studies have assessed the effects of these programs on recidivism. Prior studies have...     

A review of the CDM literature: from fine-tuning to critical scrutiny?

As negotiations on the post-2012 climate regime are now taking off, it is time to look back and assess the experiences of the clean development mechanism (CDM) to this date. The CDM has been subject to extensive discussion in academic literature during the last few years, and this article reviews that literature in order to sum up its main themes. A common assessment is that the current structure of the CDM leads to a focus on cheap emissions reductions at the expense of sustainable development benefits for the host countries. Recently, the questionable additionality of many CDM projects has become a central issue. The article further argues that whereas a substantial body of work exists on the CDM, this work is mainly preoccupied with a ‘fine-tuning’ of the mechanism. As the CDM now becomes increasingly institutionalized, scholars should also take a step back and study the CDM in a more theoretically oriented way.

Influences and conflicts of federal policies in academic–industrial scientific collaboration

This paper examines the role of the federal government in shaping the relationship between academics scientists and industry. There exists a potential conflict between government policies encouraging collaboration within academia and the policies encouraging collaboration between academia and industry. To test and model these potential conflicts, this paper uses data collected in a 2004–2005 survey by the Research Valuing Mapping Project (a project based at Georgia Tech and led by Barry Bozeman) of more than 2000 academically based research scientists and engineers. The major finding in this paper shows that academic scientists working with industry collaborate more (with all types of collaborators) than those that do not collaborate with industry. However, when examining only those scientist that collaborate with industry, the results reveal a negative relationship between the amount of time spent collaborating with industry and the number of collaborators; implying that increasing collaboration with industry leads to less academic–academic collaboration.     

Juvenile delinquency and justice in contemporary China: a critical review of the literature over 15 years

The study reviews research on juvenile delinquency and justice in China since 1990. The review covers three issues that have been studied in the publications: (1) the nature and scope of China’s juvenile delinquency; (2) individual, group, and institutional factors and their roles in delinquency involvement; and (3) the development of China’s juvenile justice. Because Hong Kong is a special region of China and has a different social, political, and legal system, the study reviews the publications on Hong Kong’s juvenile delinquency and justice in a separate section. It summarizes the findings derived from the review, analyzes and discusses the limitations of the reviewed studies, and provides prospects for future research in the area.

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Does neighborhood watch reduce crime? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Neighborhood watch grew out of a movement in the USA during the late 1960s that promoted greater involvement of citizens in the prevention of crime. Recent estimates suggest that over a quarter of the UK population and over 40% of the US population live in areas covered by neighborhood watch schemes. The current paper presents the results of a recent systematic review of evaluations of neighborhood watch. The main findings of the narrative review were that about half of the schemes evaluated showed that neighborhood watch was effective in reducing crime, with most of the other evaluations having uncertain effects. The main findings of the meta-analysis were that 15 of the 18 studies provided evidence that neighborhood watch reduced crime. While the results of the review are encouraging, it was concluded that more high-quality research needs to be done to help explain why study variations exist.

How reliable is cloudsourcing? A review of articles in the technical media 2005–11

A review of articles in the technical media between 2005 and 3Q 2011 disclosed reports on 49 outages involving 20 cloudsourcing providers. Several of these were major events. Many caused difficulties for user-organisations’ staff. Some caused lengthy suspension of services by user-organisations to their customers. A number of them involved irretrievable loss of data. Many user-organisations have failed to risk-assess their use of cloudsourcing, and are exposing their businesses to unmanaged risks.     

Of guns and geese: a meta-analytic review of the ‘weapon focus’ literature

Abstract

Weapon focus is frequently cited as a factor in eyewitness testimony, and is broadly defined as a weapon-related decrease in performance on subsequent tests of memory for those elements of an event or visual scene concurrent to the weapon. This effect has been attributed to either (a) physiological or emotional arousal that narrows the attentional beam (arousal/threat hypothesis), or (b) the cognitive demands inherent in processing an unusual object (e.g. weapon) that is incongruent with the schema representing the visual scene (unusual item hypothesis). Meta-analytical techniques were applied to test these theories as well as to evaluate the prospect of weapon focus in real-world criminal investigations. Our findings indicated an effect of weapon presence overall (g= 0.53) that was significantly influenced by retention interval, exposure duration, and threat but unaffected by whether the event occurred in a laboratory, simulation, or real-world environment.     

The cliometrics of academic chairs. Scientific knowledge and economic growth: the evidence across the Italian Regions 1900–1959

The paper elaborates and tests two hypotheses. First, that knowledge is not a homogeneous activity, but rather a bundle of highly differentiated disciplines that have different characteristics, both in terms of generation and exploitation, that bear a differentiated impact on economic growth. Advances in scientific knowledge that can be converted into technological knowledge with high levels of fungibility, appropriability, cumulability and complementarity have a higher chance to affect economic growth. Second, that academic chairs are a reliable indicator of the amount and types of knowledge being generated by the academic system. Hence the analysis of the evolution of the academic chairs of an academic system is a promising area of investigation. In this paper the exploration of the evolution of the size and the disciplinary composition of the stock of academic chairs in five Italian macro-regions in the years 1900–1959 provides an opportunity to understand the contribution of scientific knowledge to economic growth in each regional system. The econometric analysis confirms that advances in engineering and chemistry, as proxied by the number of chairs, had much a stronger effect on the regional economic growth than advances in other scientific fields. These results have important implications for research policy, as they highlight the differences in the economic effects of academic disciplines, and for the economics of science, as they support the hypothesis that academic chairs can be used as reliable indicators of on-going research activities in the different types of scientific knowledge.     

Parenting interventions for incarcerated parents to improve parenting knowledge and skills,parent well-being,and quality of the parent–child relationship: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives

To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize the evidence for the impact of parenting interventions for incarcerated parents on parenting knowledge and skills, parent well-being, and quality of the parent–child relationship.

Methods

A systematic search of 19 published and unpublished literature sources was conducted between June and July 2015 (with no date, language, document type, or geographical restrictions). Studies were included if they: (a) utilized a sample of parents who completed a parenting intervention in an incarceration setting; (b) measured parenting knowledge and skills, parent well-being, or quality of the parent–child relationship as outcome measures; and (c) employed a randomized controlled trial or quasi-experimental design with no treatment, waitlist control, or treatment-as-usual as the comparison condition. Two review authors independently determined study eligibility and extracted data from eligible studies, which included rating the risk of bias for each eligible study. Meta-analysis was used to synthesize standardized effect sizes, and subgroup analyses were used to examine the moderating effect of parent gender, level of child involvement, and research design.

Results

Twenty-two studies were eligible for inclusion in the review; however, only 16 studies (N = 2292) reported sufficient data for inclusion in the meta-analyses. Parenting interventions were more effective at post-intervention for improving parenting knowledge and skills than no treatment, waitlist control, or treatment-as-usual [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28, 1.06] and quality of the parent–child relationship (SMD = 0.27, 95% CI 0.02, 0.51), but not for improving parent well-being (SMD = 0.14, 95% CI ?0.03, 0.30). There was significant heterogeneity across effect sizes for both parenting knowledge and skills and quality of the parent–child relationship outcome domains. There were no statistically significant differences between subgroups, and the effectiveness of parenting interventions was not maintained at follow-up time-points.

Conclusions

Existing evidence suggests small to moderate effectiveness for parenting interventions during incarceration at close to intervention completion. Further methodologically robust research is required to more confidently establish the effectiveness of parenting programs both in the short-term and in the post-release period.

     

Who receives substance abuse treatment in the ‘real world’ of the prison? A register-based study of Finnish inmates

Assessing and targeting substance abuse-related treatment needs according to evidence-based practice has become the norm in most prison administrations. Not everyone with a need will, however, receive support in practical settings. Drawing on Finnish prison registers, we show that of all prisoners released in 2011, 60% were assessed as having a need for substance abuse-related support. Of these, 22% received an intervention in prison. Two multivariate models were used to examine the factors related to selection into interventions. The main factors associated with receiving an intervention with evidence-based programmes were a longer sentence, Finnish nationality, younger age and treatment motivation. The predictors for any substance abuse interventions (including non-evidence-based) were the same, with the exception that motivation was no longer a significant predictor, and female gender remained significant. The selective use of motivation as an entrance criterion for interventions can be a means of systemic adaptation to a combination of a high prevalence of substance abuse problems and a lower prevalence of treatment motivation in the prison population. We discuss how our results might reflect a Scandinavian way of doing evidence-based, prison-based drug treatment—one that stresses rehabilitation as a goal in itself in addition to reducing recidivism. Most prisoners, however, do not receive any intervention at all.     

Is breast best? Evaluating breastfeeding patterns and causes of infant death in a Dutch province in the period 1875–1900

In the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, infants experienced extremely high mortality risks towards the final decades of the nineteenth century. It has been stated that infant survival in the past highly depended upon the fact whether a child was breastfed or not. In this article we will reflect on this perceived importance of infant diet in order to explain the high mortality risks of Brabant infants in the period 1875–1900. Using local aggregated cause of death data, a change in breastfeeding practices can indeed be detected. Between 1875/79 and 1895/99 there was an increase in the relative and absolute number of infants deaths as a result of diarrhoea and other digestive disorders indicating deficient hygiene and that fewer infants were breastfed frequently. By discussing differences between urban and rural settings, and between Catholic and Protestant regions, we will shed more light on possible mechanisms for this change in breastfeeding practices.