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The number of older adults with dementia in U.S. prisons is rapidly rising. Yet, the vast majority of this marginalized subgroup of the aging population is left neglected behind bars without access to adequate medical and mental health care services. We assert that proactive, interdisciplinary collaborative efforts to improve practice, policy, and research and to develop a high-quality evidence-based continuum of care for this aging population are urgently needed. The overarching goals of this paper are to raise awareness of the life and experiences of persons with dementia in prison and to stimulate discussion, research, and advocacy efforts for this forgotten subgroup of older Americans. We describe the growing number of older adults with dementia in U.S. prisons, high-risk factors for dementia present in the prison population, and the life and experience of persons with dementia in the culture and environment of prison that is primarily not designed for them. We review the current state of services and programs for dementia in prison. We conclude by proposing practice, policy, and research-related priority areas and strategies for interdisciplinary gerontological responses.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an experiential learning project with BSW students to see if their perceptions of older adults have changed. The project consisted of an oral history project and presentation that matched BSW students with older adults from diverse ethnic backgrounds to gather their immigration narratives. The study used a single group pretest posttest design with 17 BSW students enrolled in an integrative field seminar class. Using a series of inferential analyses, BSW students' attitudes towards older adults, future career plans, confidence with working with older adults from diverse backgrounds, and geriatric competencies were examined. Overall, a significant increase in BSW students who had varying levels of participation in project perceptions of geriatric social work competencies between pretest and posttest were found. Students who both conducted and presented the oral histories of older adults also were significantly more likely to report future plans to work with older adults compared to students who did not. Exposing BSW students to aging and diversity content has important implications towards fostering student interest in pursuing social work practice with older adults and preparing them for culturally competent social work. (Contains 4 tables.)

Background: The aging prison population in the United States presents a significant public health challenge with high rates of trauma and mental health issues that the correctional system alone is ill-prepared to address. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of age, objective, and subjective measures of trauma and stressful life events and post-traumatic stress symptoms among older adults in prison. Methods: Data were gathered from 334 prisoners (aged 55+) housed in the New Jersey Department of Corrections, as of September 2010. An anonymous self-report, self-administered survey was mailed to the total population of 1,000 prisoners aged 55 years and older. Objective and subjective trauma was measured using the Life Stressors Checklist-Revised (LSC-R), and post-traumatic stress symptoms were measured using the Civilian Version of the Post-traumatic Stress Scale. Findings: Results of a path analysis revealed that past year subjective impressions of traumatic and stressful life events had a positive and significant relationship to current post-traumatic stress symptoms. Age was found to have a significant and inverse relationship to subjective traumatic and stressful life events. That is, younger participants reported higher levels of cumulative traumatic and stressful life events and past year subjective ratings of being bothered by these past events. Implications: These findings have significance for interdisciplinary/interprofessional practice and appropriate institutional and community care, including reentry planning of older adults in the criminal justice system.

To fill a current gap in the literature on aging, mental health, and the criminal justice system, a content analysis of international peer-reviewed research studies was conducted. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify English language research studies published in 2018-19. Forty-four articles were located using keyword search terms, such as aging, mental health, and criminal justice. The methods and major findings were analyzed using deductive and inductive approaches. It was found that the majority of the research studies were conducted in the United States and England. The results of the inductive analyses revealed major themes related to mental health detection and access to services, comorbid conditions, and the relationship of age, mental health, criminal behavior, and the social determinants of mental health. Findings from this review have significant implications for advancing epidemiological research, practice, and policy, especially as it relates to the influence of the social determinants of health of aging on life course mental health and criminal justice involvement. Research findings about the correlates and consequences of the social determinants of health, especially as it relates to aging, mental health, and criminal justice involvement, can be used to inform prevention and intervention efforts that target the social determinants of life course health and criminal justice involvement. It also provides a comprehensive assessment of the m methods used in prior studies to help improve future studies in this important area of investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although prior research has documented a relationship between sexual victimization and a host of adverse outcomes, these research findings have generally been confined to early life course outcomes and focused on a single objective indicator of sexual victimization. Acknowledging these limitations, this study provides an examination of the objective experiences and subjective interpretations of abusive sexual contact and sexual assault/rape victimization, both prior to and after age 16, among a sample of 614 incarcerated older male offenders aged 50 and above. Additional multivariate results suggest that sexual victimization experiences are significantly related to mental health and physical health issues reported in old age. Study limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence suggests that older adults in prison experience a high level of adverse life experiences that can be categorized as trauma, stress, grief and loss. However, there is a dearth of research that examines how older adults' use of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual coping resources influence their physical and mental well-being. The current study uses a cross-sectional correlational design and a sample of 667 adults aged 50 and older in a northeastern state prison system. Data were collected using a mailed survey that included the Life Stressors Checklist-Revised, the Coping Resources Inventory, and Health-Related Quality of Life Survey to measure the variables of central interest. The majority (70%) of the sample reported some type of traumatic and stressful life experiences that included childhood and/or adult exposure to violence, unexpected and expected loss of a loved one, family separation, or being diagnosed with a serious physical or mental illness. Path analysis results produced a well-fitting model and revealed that five dimensions of coping resources (physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual) demonstrate a protective affect on the relationship between cumulative, traumatic and stressful life experiences and well-being among older adults in prison. These findings suggest that the lifetime experiences of multiple types of trauma, stress, grief, separation, and loss are common among older adults in prison and place them at risk for later-life physical and mental decline. Multidimensional coping strategies that address physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual domains are promising intervention techniques that can improve well-being among older adults in prison. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aging people in prison and post-prison release pose significant yet surmountable challenges in satisfying age-specific educational, training, employment, financial and civic participation rights. This descriptive study of 677 older prisoners, aged 50+, in a statewide prison system provides a historical analysis of past and current individual and social structural level factors that influence the prisoners' economic and employment prospects after being released from prison. Results highlight the diversity within this population based on socio-demographics, work histories, family obligations, health status, and legal histories that influence the level of support experienced post incarceration. These findings suggest the need for comprehensive services that provide prison and post-prison release education, vocational training, and housing and job placement for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated older adults. Strategies for providing culturally responsive tools and resources to support education, training, and employment of formerly incarcerated older adults are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of Study: A theoretical integration of the life course perspective, cumulative advantage, disadvantage or inequality, and stress processing theories provide an important integrated lens to study the relationship between accumulated interpersonal, social-structural, and historical trauma and stressful experiences on mental well-being mental well-being in later life. Design and Methods: This study builds upon the extant literature by examining the mediating role of coping resources on the relationship between trauma and stressful life experiences, post traumatic stress symptoms, and mental well-being among a sample of 677 adults aged 50 and older in prison. Results: The majority (70%) reported experiencing one or more traumatic or stressful life experiences during their life span. Participants also reported on average 11 occurrences of multilevel trauma and stressful life events and lingering subjective distress related to these events. Results of a structural equation model revealed that internal and external coping resources (e.g., cognitive, emotional, physical, spiritual, and social) had a significant and inverse effect on the relationship between trauma and stressful life experiences and mental well-being. Implications: As prisons are forced to deal with an aging population, research in this area can take the preliminary steps to enhance understanding of risk and resilience among older adults in prison. This understanding will aid in the development and improvement of integrated theory-based interventions seeking to increase human rights, health, and well-being among older adults in prison. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study profiled 2,913 adults aged 50 and older sentenced to a statewide correctional system and their parole eligibility status with implications for community reintegration, resettlement, and recovery needs. The research team developed the Correctional Tracking Data Extraction Tool to gather official data and personal and legal characteristics from a state department of corrections website. The majority of older prisoners were men from racial/ethnic minorities between the ages of 50 and 59 with a range of minor to serious offenses. Time served in prison ranged from 1 month to 45 years; more than 40% were eligible for parole within 5 years. These findings underscore the need for an intervention that can address the differing typologies and individual-level and systemic issues that gave rise to the aging prisoner population. Promising practices that address elements of a conceptual model in prison and community reintegration and recovery for older adult prisoners are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop a set of profiles on incarcerated older adults, which map the association between world assumptions, trauma, and indicators of mental health, including stress, depression, anxiety, hostility, and paranoia. A sample of 667 incarcerated older adults in prison completed a self-administered survey that included the World Assumptions Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, and an index of subjective trauma experiences. Latent class analysis was used to model the heterogeneity in the sample. The authors identified three distinct classes of world assumption profiles among the study participants: a highly resilient group, a group who liked themselves, but no one else, and a group with elevated mental health indicators. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding cognitive schemas and life-course traumatic experiences as well as suggestions for identifying incarcerated individuals most at risk of psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research consistently shows that incarcerated juveniles and adults experience high levels of prior traumatic experiences and stressful life events. Yet there is a gap in the literature addressing incarcerated older adults’ life-course experiences of traumatic and stressful life events and their initial and current subjective interpretations of these events. Given that untreated trauma has been linked to decreased health and mental well-being, and recidivism, the current study attempts to address this gap. A secondary data analysis was conducted of the Risk and Resilience Study on older adults in prison. It used a cross-sectional correlation design from an anonymous self-report, self-administered survey of a sample of 667 incarcerated older adults with a mean age of 56.5 years. Cumulative trauma (objective and subjective) was measured using the Life Stressors Checklist-Revised (LSC-R). Up to 70% of participants reported at least one of 31 types of lifetime traumatic or stressful events occurring in childhood and/or adulthood. On average, they also reported higher degrees of current subjective distress about being a victim as opposed to a witness of violence or other stressful experiences. This study helps to break the cycle of silence of trauma and stress among older adults in prison. The complex trauma histories and resulting needs of older adults in prison are a significant public health challenge that must be addressed. Specialized trauma-informed assessment and intervention strategies that may work more effectively with this sensitive population, especially in the challenging prison environment, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is an examination of the empirical literature published in peer-reviewed journals, which investigated samples of adults aged 50 and older, who had experienced trauma, in childhood with follow-up of the impact on later life mental and physical health. Articles were identified through searches of EBSCOhost databases, such as PubMed, SocioIndex, and PsychoLit. Search terms such as childhood trauma and cumulative trauma were paired with the term older adults in varying combinations. The collective findings of 23 studies published between 1996 and 2001 suggested that trauma first documented as occurring in childhood is associated with later life mental and physical health. Methodological limitations and future directions as well as recommendations for practice, policy, and research with older adults and trauma are delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article was to review the empirical literature that investigated trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system. Nineteen journal articles published between 1988 and 2010 were identified and extracted via research databases and included mixed age samples of adjudicated older and younger adults (n = 11) or older adult only samples (n = 8). Findings revealed past and current trauma and stress, consequences and/or correlates, and internal and external coping resources among aging offenders. The implications and future directions for gerontological social work, research, and policy with older adults in the criminal justice system are advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined lifetime trauma and life event stressors among young and older prisoners. A stratified random sample of young (age 18 to 24 years) and older (age 55 and above) male prisoners was drawn from the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Fifty-eight participants completed a modified version of the Trauma and Stressful Life Experiences Screening Inventory during face-to-face interviews. Approximately 40% of young and older adult prisoners reported exposure to violent victimization. Young prisoners were significantly more likely to report witnessing physical assault, whereas older prisoners were significantly more likely to report experiencing a natural disaster, life-threatening illness, or the death of a loved one. Information about the frequency of lifetime trauma and life event stressors can be used to develop or improve trauma-informed services that target age-specific needs, especially for young and older prisoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States’ older adult prison population is growing rapidly. This study identifies and describes important psychosocial characteristics, particularly trauma, life-event stressors, health, mental health, and substance abuse, among older adults in prison. Data were collected using case record reviews of 114 prisoners aged 55 or older in the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Findings revealed that the study participants are a diverse group with varied psychosocial issues and needs, including trauma and stress histories, substance use, and health and mental health issues. Most had childhood or adult trauma, such as physical or sexual abuse. Family problems were common in childhood and adulthood. Understanding the problems and needs of older adult prisoners may help improve practice, promote advocacy, and prompt research that can enhance the quality of life of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although prior research has documented a relationship between sexual victimization and a host of adverse outcomes, these research findings have generally been confined to early life course outcomes and focused on a single objective indicator of sexual victimization. Acknowledging these limitations, this study provides an examination of the objective experiences and subjective interpretations of abusive sexual contact and sexual assault/ rape victimization, both prior to and after age 16, among a sample of 614 incarcerated older male offenders aged 50 and above. Additional multivariate results suggest that sexual victimization experiences are significantly related to mental health and physical health issues reported in old age. Study limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]