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Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse
BACKGROUND: In the past decade, several studies have focused on the treatment needs of female inmates with substance abuse problems. An important finding has been that these women are more likely to report histories of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse-at rates varying from 77% to 90%. The traum...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4429492/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25971733 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-10-5 |
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author | Mejía, Bertha Zea, Paloma Romero, Martha Saldívar, Gabriela |
author_facet | Mejía, Bertha Zea, Paloma Romero, Martha Saldívar, Gabriela |
author_sort | Mejía, Bertha |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: In the past decade, several studies have focused on the treatment needs of female inmates with substance abuse problems. An important finding has been that these women are more likely to report histories of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse-at rates varying from 77% to 90%. The trauma resulting from this kind of abuse is a key contributing factor in behavioral problems in adolescence and subsequent delinquency, substance abuse, and criminality in adulthood. METHODS: This was a retrospective clinical study. A convenience sample of 112 women who entered the program’s treatment groups consecutively for one year form part of the study. Information on traumatic events was obtained using some questions from the Initial Trauma Review. It explores whether the participant experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, disasters, automobile accidents, or witnessed violence under the age of 18. It also examines experiences as an adult, including sexual and physical abuse, attacks by others who are not intimate partners, and abuse by authorities. RESULTS: Revictimization in sexual abuse was found in 78.1% of participants. Significant differences were identified between women who had experienced a traumatic sexual event from a person five years their senior before the age of 18 and then suffered from sexual violence as an adult, and women who had never undergone either of these events (x(2) = 11.3, df 112/1, p = <.001). In physical abuse, the figure was 82.17%. Differences were observed between women who were revictimized through physical abuse before and after the age of 18 (x(2) = 5.91, df 112/1, p = <.01), and those who had not experienced any kind of revictimization. Significant differences were found between women who had suffered a traumatic sexual event as a child and subsequently physical violence from their parents, and women who had not undergone either of these events (x(2) = 3.48, df 112/1, p = <.05). CONCLUSIONS: Investment in treatment in these areas during the prison sentence and after release may contribute to preventing these women from become repeat offenders. Creating sources of work and halfway houses that continue the program to prevent relapses into substance use can help defend the human rights of this group of women and achieve social justice. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4429492 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-44294922015-05-14 Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse Mejía, Bertha Zea, Paloma Romero, Martha Saldívar, Gabriela Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy Research BACKGROUND: In the past decade, several studies have focused on the treatment needs of female inmates with substance abuse problems. An important finding has been that these women are more likely to report histories of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse-at rates varying from 77% to 90%. The trauma resulting from this kind of abuse is a key contributing factor in behavioral problems in adolescence and subsequent delinquency, substance abuse, and criminality in adulthood. METHODS: This was a retrospective clinical study. A convenience sample of 112 women who entered the program’s treatment groups consecutively for one year form part of the study. Information on traumatic events was obtained using some questions from the Initial Trauma Review. It explores whether the participant experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, disasters, automobile accidents, or witnessed violence under the age of 18. It also examines experiences as an adult, including sexual and physical abuse, attacks by others who are not intimate partners, and abuse by authorities. RESULTS: Revictimization in sexual abuse was found in 78.1% of participants. Significant differences were identified between women who had experienced a traumatic sexual event from a person five years their senior before the age of 18 and then suffered from sexual violence as an adult, and women who had never undergone either of these events (x(2) = 11.3, df 112/1, p = <.001). In physical abuse, the figure was 82.17%. Differences were observed between women who were revictimized through physical abuse before and after the age of 18 (x(2) = 5.91, df 112/1, p = <.01), and those who had not experienced any kind of revictimization. Significant differences were found between women who had suffered a traumatic sexual event as a child and subsequently physical violence from their parents, and women who had not undergone either of these events (x(2) = 3.48, df 112/1, p = <.05). CONCLUSIONS: Investment in treatment in these areas during the prison sentence and after release may contribute to preventing these women from become repeat offenders. Creating sources of work and halfway houses that continue the program to prevent relapses into substance use can help defend the human rights of this group of women and achieve social justice. BioMed Central 2015-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4429492/ /pubmed/25971733 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-10-5 Text en © Mejía et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Mejía, Bertha Zea, Paloma Romero, Martha Saldívar, Gabriela Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title | Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title_full | Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title_fullStr | Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title_full_unstemmed | Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title_short | Traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
title_sort | traumatic experiences and re-victimization of female inmates undergoing treatment for substance abuse |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4429492/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25971733 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-10-5 |
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