Changes in Psychological Health and Subjective Well-Being Among Incarcerated Individuals With Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

While improving the psychological health and well-being of individuals with serious mental illness can help reduce emotional distress and increase resilience, not enough is known about the well-being of incarcerated individuals with mental illness. Using the Schwartz Outcome Scale-10, the authors examined changes in subjective well-being and its association with other clinical symptoms and personality features in 43 mentally ill inmates in a large jail. All participants demonstrated significant improvement in general psychopathology and negative emotions. For well-being, however, different trajectories were associated with high versus low baseline ratings. Furthermore, those in the high well-being group were more likely to show features of aggression, dominance, hostility, mania, and more positive affect. These findings suggest that the level of well-being among inmates with serious mental illness may be an early indicator of personality features, clinical changes, and resilience, which is essential knowledge required when completing effective treatment planning.

The influence of resilience on mental health: The role of general well‐being

“…That is to say, in the low level of GWB, resilience can significantly predict mental health, and in the higher level of GWB of nurses, resilience cannot significantly predict mental health. It is probably because people with low GWB may effectively play the role of resilience and better adaptation to ever‐changing environment (Leidenfrost, Calabrese, Schoelerman, et al, ). When one can handle the negative life events, get rid of the adversity, and return to the previous situation, then one can reduce the generation of mental health problems.…”

Psychometric Properties of the Farsi Version of the Schwartz Outcome Scale

“…Psychometric analysis of this scale has demonstrated good reliability and validity in both clinical and nonclinical settings among adults and adolescents (10,15,(18)(19)(20). Also, its psychometric features make it a noteworthy measure due to its generality, promptness and ease of administration and scoring (7,14,(21)(22)(23)(24).…”

Mental wellbeing among people in prison in Scotland: an analysis of repeat cross-sectional surveys

“…studied subjective wellbeing and psychological health among 43 people with serious mental illness in a New York prison, using the Schwartz Outcome Scale-10. 26 Neither study reported comparative data or population norms or examined associations between mental wellbeing and demographic or custodial characteristics.…”

“… 23 , 24 The only studies to date which measure mental wellbeing appear to be limited to small subgroups of people in prison, such as specific ethnic groups 25 or those with serious mental illness. 26 …”