Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among sentenced prisoners in a medium security prison in Ghana: Implications for mental health assessment and service

IF 1.1 4区 医学 Q3 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Pub Date : 2023-08-07 DOI:10.1002/cbm.2307
Gordon M. Donnir, Winifred Asare-Doku
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Abstract

Background

Extant literature has shown that there is a higher prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners compared to the general population. These findings have, however, mostly been from high-income and westernised cultures. In Ghana, little is known about the extent of psychiatric disorders among prisoners, as is consistent with the dearth of scholarly work in low and middle-income countries.

Aims

Our aim was to determine the prevalence of common mental disorders among sentenced prisoners in the second largest prison in Ghana.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey research design was used in one prison. The Mini International Neuro-Psychiatric Interview questionnaire was used to collect data from men and women serving prison sentences who volunteered for the study. Socio-demographic characteristics and criminal history data were collected using a questionnaire designed by the researchers.

Results

Five hundred prisoners participated. Nearly half (246, 49.8%) had at least one psychiatric disorder. The most prevalent disorders were major depression and a range of anxiety disorders (145, 29%, 132, 26% respectively). A smaller proportion recorded high scores on the antisocial personality disorder scale (13%); just 50 (10%) reported using substances in the 12 months before interview, but this is a minimum estimate of such problems as many were already in prison during that time. None of these prisoners, regardless of disorder, had been screened, diagnosed, or treated in prison.

Conclusions

This study contributes to the gap in scholarly literature in low- and middle-income countries on psychiatric disorders in the prison population. It will be important to explore further the extent to which the internationally recognised screening tools used led to under-estimation of psychiatric disorders. The findings are of immediate practical importance nationally as they highlight the need to implement reforms anticipated by the new mental health legislation of 2012 and strategies for interagency working to improve health services and their uptake in the criminal justice system.

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加纳一所中等安全级别监狱中被判刑囚犯的精神障碍患病率:对心理健康评估和服务的影响。
背景:现有文献表明,与普通人群相比,囚犯中的精神障碍患病率更高。然而,这些发现大多来自高收入和西方文化。在加纳,人们对囚犯中精神障碍的程度知之甚少,这与低收入和中等收入国家缺乏学术工作相一致。目的:我们的目的是确定加纳第二大监狱被判刑囚犯中常见精神障碍的患病率。方法:采用横断面调查研究设计对某监狱进行调查。迷你国际神经-精神病访谈问卷用于收集自愿参加该研究的服刑男女的数据。社会人口特征和犯罪史数据是使用研究人员设计的问卷收集的。结果:有500名囚犯参加。近一半(246人,49.8%)至少有一种精神障碍。最常见的疾病是严重抑郁症和一系列焦虑症(分别为145、29%、132、26%)。一小部分人在反社会人格障碍量表上获得高分(13%);在采访前的12个月里,只有50人(10%)报告使用了药物,但这是对此类问题的最低估计,因为许多人在那段时间已经入狱。这些囚犯,无论是否有精神障碍,都没有在监狱中接受过筛查、诊断或治疗。结论:这项研究填补了中低收入国家关于监狱人口精神障碍的学术文献的空白。重要的是要进一步探索国际公认的筛查工具在多大程度上导致对精神障碍的低估。这些发现在全国范围内具有直接的实际意义,因为它们强调了实施2012年新的心理健康立法所预期的改革的必要性,以及机构间努力改善医疗服务及其在刑事司法系统中的应用的战略。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.60
自引率
0.00%
发文量
40
期刊介绍: Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health – CBMH – aims to publish original material on any aspect of the relationship between mental state and criminal behaviour. Thus, we are interested in mental mechanisms associated with offending, regardless of whether the individual concerned has a mental disorder or not. We are interested in factors that influence such relationships, and particularly welcome studies about pathways into and out of crime. These will include studies of normal and abnormal development, of mental disorder and how that may lead to offending for a subgroup of sufferers, together with information about factors which mediate such a relationship.
期刊最新文献
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