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WOMPRIS - substance use, health and recidivism among women with a history of incarceration in Norway

This project aims to describe substance abuse and health challenges among women who have served time in Norwegian prisons, as well as risk factors for recidivism.

About the project

Women in prison are a marginalized group with a particularly high prevalence of mental disorders and substance-related problems. Given women's minority status in the prison context, knowledge about gender-specific factors and trends in this population is very limited.

WOMPRIS is a sub-project of the PriSUD project at the Centre for Addiction Research (SERAF) in collaboration with PRISONHEALTH at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law (IKRS). The project forms the basis for a doctoral dissertation on women in Norwegian prisons.

Objectives

The overarching goal of the project is to describe significant aspects of the incarcerated female population and how many of these may have evolved over time, with the intention of developing new knowledge that contributes to better health and quality of life among women who are or have been incarcerated. The project has a particular focus on the prevalence of substance use disorders, dual diagnoses, and other mental disorders, as well as mortality and risk factors for recidivism.

Methods

The projects utilize data from The Norwegian Prison Release Study (nPRIS) cohort, which covers all prison sentences carried out in Norway in the period from 2000 to 2022 and which is further linked with health data from the Norwegian Patient Register, social welfare data from Statistics Norway (SSB), and mortality data from the Cause of Death Registry. The linkages have been made in such a way that anonymity is maintained, and all data processing occurs within the University of Oslo's data security system (TSD).

Financing

Collaboration

Selected publications

Svendsen, Vegard Gjerden; Stavseth, Marianne Riksheim; Skardhamar, Torbjørn & Bukten, Anne (2023). Psychiatric morbidity among women in Norwegian prisons, 2010-2019: a register-based study. BMC Psychiatry. ISSN 1471-244X. 23(1). doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04886-7

Published Jan. 31, 2024 11:24 AM - Last modified Jan. 31, 2024 1:16 PM