JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The mother child relationship is extremely important and for mothers experiencing incarceration this relationship has unique challenges. There is limited evidence currently available to identify the type and content of parenting education that would best suit women who are incarcerated.

Objective:

In this study, the objective is to design and evaluate a parent education program for women experiencing incarceration in South Australia, that meets the specific needs of incarcerated women and considers the cultural needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and migrant women .

Methods:

This study will utilise a mixed method approach, including 6 phases. Phase one, will be the connecting phase, to build relationships with the prison staff to assist in developing a deeper understanding of the prison environment and build trust. This phase will also involve connection with Aboriginal peoples and parenting education experts in the community. Phase two, the understanding phase, will involve a scoping review and focus groups with incarcerated women and then staff who work within the prison. This will assist in understanding the parenting education needs of women who are incarcerated. The third phase, named the planning phase, will involve the development of a parenting education program to suit the specific needs of women experiencing incarceration in South Australia. Phase four will involve the implementation of the program and phase five the evaluation. The results will be disseminated during the final phase.

Results:

A scoping review was undertaken to inform this study protocol. This paper describes and discusses the protocol for this mixed-methods study, which will be completed by August 2021.

Conclusions:

The scoping review highlighted a lack of rigorous evidence to determine the most appropriate parenting education program to specifically suit women experiencing incarceration and there was little consideration for the cultural needs of women. It was also identified that when quantitative and qualitative data are utilised the women’s voices can assist in the determination of what works, what will not work and what can be improved. The data collected and analysed during this study, as well as the current evidence will assist in the development of a specific parenting education program to meet the needs of women experiencing incarceration in South Australia and will be implemented and evaluated as part of the study.