Going Inside To Get The Word Out: Improving Health Literacy With Inmates. Gail Kouame, MLIS, University of Washington.
Objectives: This project’s goal was to improve the health literacy, self-care management skills, and personal health care decision making of inmates during and after incarceration in a county detention center. Hoped-for outcomes were: Increased awareness of resources for quality health information and services; improved ability to process, understand, and communicate basic health information; and better ability to understand and manage health issues and concerns.
Methods: An outreach librarian collaborated with a multidisciplinary community-based team to develop twelve health information modules and other health-related resources to be presented to inmates in a rural county detention center. Because inmates do not have access to the Internet, an offline system was developed for use by trainers and inmates during the time of incarceration. Selected topics covered in training sessions included: mental health issues and stress, tobacco use and prevention, addictive behaviors, nutrition and weight management, preventive care and community library resources and services available upon release.
Results: Fifty-five inmates were qualified to participate in the project, and 39 completed both pre- and post-training questionnaires after completing all 12 modules of instruction. The evaluation revealed that even with the small total number of 39 in this study, the results were encouraging.
Conclusions: The most effective strategy in implementing the project was the “Internet-in-a-box” offline system. One strategy that would not be used again was scheduling the classes to run over a two-week period as first started in this project due to drop-out rates. Discussion between inmates and volunteer health professionals after each session is recommended.
