Quality of Life and Health: Gender Disparities among Older Adults in Prisons

• In Event: Health in Jails and Prisons: New Research Developments

Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) is a holistic, subjective barometer of well-being associated positively with health and negatively with care costs. Examining relationships between QoL and health among incarcerated persons—further attenuated by gender—is of critical import as health care costs account for the largest proportion of correctional budgets and women bear a greater health burden than their male counterparts in carceral settings. Data were drawn from a longitudinal mixed-methods study aimed at identifying and describing health, QoL, and justice-related experiences of older adults incarcerated in a state prison system. Statistically significant differences emerged between men (n=260) and women (n=85) in physical, psychological, and environmental QoL scores with women reporting lower QoL than men. Women also reported significantly more chronic conditions than their male counterparts. QoL domain scores were negatively related to number of chronic conditions, and environmental QoL scores were negatively related to physical disability. Z-scores indicated correlations between QoL scores and health measures were often disparate between men and women with some effects emerging as moderate or larger. Corrections administrators are situated uniquely to embrace gender-responsive interventions aimed at enhancing QoL and health, and potentially reducing health care costs in carceral settings, as a result.

Authors

• Stephanie Grace Prost, University of Louisville

• Adrian Archuleta, University of Louisville

• Seana Golder, University of Louisville