Adoption of the sick role by prisoners: Report on a multi-functional experiment

Abstract

The rights and obligations theoretically involved in the sick role are well known, and recently situational and institutional modifications in the theory have been suggested. In this research, we attempt to assess the extent to which prison inmates use the sick role for secondary gains rather than for acute illnesses. When the division of labor was restructured to include the option of lower levels of care for state prisoners, it was found that their desire for physicians' care decreased dramatically. Although total sick role enactment remained constant when alternative sick call services were made available, most inmates chose to have only symbolic encounters in the health care system rather than consulting with physicians at the sick call.