Volunteering in prisons: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.
Prisoners
Prisons
Volunteering
Volunteers
Journal
Public health
ISSN: 1476-5616
Titre abrégé: Public Health
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 0376507
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jul 2023
Jul 2023
Historique:
received:
06
01
2023
revised:
13
03
2023
accepted:
12
04
2023
medline:
19
7
2023
pubmed:
17
6
2023
entrez:
16
6
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Individuals from the community who volunteer within prisons are an understudied population, despite previous research indicating the increase in involvement of the penal voluntary sector and benefits to both prisons and prisoners from effective implementation of volunteer programmes. This study aimed to identify the characteristics, motivations and experiences of individuals who volunteer in prisons. This was a systematic review conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. Peer-reviewed publications were identified through searchers of five electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts and Social Sciences Database) without date restrictions, supplemented by hand searching and reference checking of retrieved articles. Explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria determined study eligibility. Study quality was appraised using standard tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted, and motivations were organised according to the Volunteer Function Inventory. Eight studies (five qualitative and three quantitative) reported a total of 764 volunteers across five countries. More than half of the included studies investigated individuals providing primarily religious volunteer support; volunteers in these studies were typically middle aged, White and female. Prison volunteers frequently described motivations related to altruistic or humanitarian values, as well as social reasons. Positive experiences of volunteering were related to personal benefits to volunteers. Negative experiences were related to a lack of support and challenges in volunteers' relationships with prison staff. Prison volunteer programmes have the ability to improve the psychological health of prisoners and provide a range of potential benefits to penal systems and volunteers themselves, but research on individuals who volunteer in prisons is limited. Difficulties in the volunteer role could be mitigated by developing formal induction and training packages, promoting closer integration with paid prison staff and providing ongoing supervision. Interventions to improve the volunteer experience should be developed and evaluated.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Individuals from the community who volunteer within prisons are an understudied population, despite previous research indicating the increase in involvement of the penal voluntary sector and benefits to both prisons and prisoners from effective implementation of volunteer programmes.
OBJECTIVES
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to identify the characteristics, motivations and experiences of individuals who volunteer in prisons.
STUDY DESIGN
METHODS
This was a systematic review conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines.
METHODS
METHODS
Peer-reviewed publications were identified through searchers of five electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts and Social Sciences Database) without date restrictions, supplemented by hand searching and reference checking of retrieved articles. Explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria determined study eligibility. Study quality was appraised using standard tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted, and motivations were organised according to the Volunteer Function Inventory.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Eight studies (five qualitative and three quantitative) reported a total of 764 volunteers across five countries. More than half of the included studies investigated individuals providing primarily religious volunteer support; volunteers in these studies were typically middle aged, White and female. Prison volunteers frequently described motivations related to altruistic or humanitarian values, as well as social reasons. Positive experiences of volunteering were related to personal benefits to volunteers. Negative experiences were related to a lack of support and challenges in volunteers' relationships with prison staff.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Prison volunteer programmes have the ability to improve the psychological health of prisoners and provide a range of potential benefits to penal systems and volunteers themselves, but research on individuals who volunteer in prisons is limited. Difficulties in the volunteer role could be mitigated by developing formal induction and training packages, promoting closer integration with paid prison staff and providing ongoing supervision. Interventions to improve the volunteer experience should be developed and evaluated.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37327562
pii: S0033-3506(23)00123-3
doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.04.008
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Systematic Review
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
155-164Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.