[Mental health symptoms among prisoners: psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)]. / Psychische klachten bij gedetineerden: psychometrische kenmerken van de Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI).

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are common in prison populations. Imprisonment may provide important opportunities to improve prisoners' mental health. To do so, it is important to systematically identify prisoners with mental health problems as soon as possible.
AIM: To examine the psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) among male prisoners.
METHOD: A total of 1,624 male prisoners filled out the BSI. The following psychometric properties of the BSI scales were examined: distribution, internal consistency, inter-item correlations, and the factor structure. To examine the (criterion) validity, the BSI scores of different groups were compared.
RESULTS: Cronbach's α's of the BSI scales ranged from 0.97 to 0.76. In general, the observed factor structure resembled the intended nine BSI scales. Prisoners reported significantly higher scores on the BSI than men from the general population, but had lower scores than male psychiatric patients. Prisoners who had been treated for mental disorders prior to their detention, scored significantly higher than prisoners who had not.
CONCLUSION: The BSI showed reliable scales among prisoners and is well able to distinguish between different groups. KEY WORDS Brief Symptom Inventory, prisoners, psychiatry, psychometric properties.

Mental health symptoms during imprisonment: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: Mental health problems are common in prison populations. Less is known about how mental health problems develop during imprisonment. The objective was to examine the longitudinal course of mental health symptoms during imprisonment and individual factors associated with the development of these symptoms. METHOD: In a prospective cohort study, 1.664 Dutch male prisoners were questioned 3 weeks after their arrival in detention. Those still in custody were questioned again after 3, 9, and 18 months. Multilevel analyses were conducted to identify predictors of the course of mental health symptoms. RESULTS: Prisoners reported continued elevated symptom levels compared to the general population. Inmates who entered detention with pre-existing mental health problems and problematic alcohol/drugs use showed mental health improvements during detention. CONCLUSION: The high levels of prisoners' mental health problems highlight the importance of addressing mental health issues in prison. Imprisonment does not have an overall negative effect on mental health.

Selection Processes in Prison-Based Treatment Referrals: A Street-Level Bureaucracy Perspective.

Studies indicated that detainees are not always allocated to treatment programs based on official guidelines. Street-level bureaucracy theory suggests that this is because government employees do not always perform policies as prescribed. This study aimed to assess whether this also applies to the allocation of offenders to treatment in Dutch penitentiary institutions, and aimed to determine which factors influenced this. The proposed questions were addressed by studying a group of 541 male prisoners who participated in the Dutch prison-based Prevention of Recidivism program. Results showed that official guidelines were, in most cases, not leading when referring detainees to programs. Instead, treatment referrals were influenced by a broad range of risk factors, as well as the length of an offender's sentence.

Psychological, musculoskeletal, and respiratory problems and sickness absence before and after involvement in a disaster: a longitudinal study among rescue workers.

BACKGROUND: On 13 May 2000 a firework depot situated in a residential area in the Netherlands exploded. Many rescue workers were involved in the aftermath of this explosion. AIMS: To examine the longitudinal course of psychological, musculoskeletal, and respiratory problems and sickness absence among rescue workers involved. METHODS: The study population was composed of 1036 rescue workers. Data on health and sickness absence both before and after the disaster were collected from the electronic database of the rescue workers' occupational physicians. Health problems were coded according to an adapted version of the ICD-10. RESULTS: After the disaster a long term increase was found in psychological, musculoskeletal, and respiratory problems. Compared to six months before the disaster, the average length of sickness absence in the first half year after the disaster increased from 6.6 to 11.6 days, and decreased slowly in the following six month periods. CONCLUSIONS: Rescue workers involved in a disaster may experience subsequent impairment in occupational functioning.