RESUMEN

Background - Interventions for inmates with Pathological Addiction (PA) still remain a problematic issue in Italian prisons, despite a 1999 major government reform transferring PA care in prison to the National Health Service. Aim of this research was to describe the integrated intervention model implemented for prisoners with PA in the Parma Penitentiary Institutes from January 2020 to June 2020. This specific approach is based on "person-tailored" therapeutic-rehabilitation programs in line with local community PA services. Methods - All the procedures were first carefully illustrated, especially the service for newly admitted inmates and the specialized rehabilitation treatments provided. A process analysis on the first six months of clinical activity was then performed. Results - Since January 2020, 178 subjects entered the service for newly admitted inmates: 55 (30.9%) were taken in charge for a PA. Conclusions - Our results support the feasibility of an integrated intervention model for PA in Italian prisons, based on specialized psychiatric treatments planned and provided in collaboration with inmates and their community health and social services.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

PURPOSE: Mental health interventions for Italian prisoners with mental disorders remain a problematic issue, despite radical changes in general psychiatric care and a 2008 major government reform transferring mental health care in prison to the National Health Service. The aim of this study is to describe the mental health intervention model implemented since January 2020 for prisoners allocated in the Parma Penitentiary Institutes (PPI). This approach is specifically based on specialized, "person-centered" and "person-tailored" therapeutic-rehabilitation plans in line with psychiatric treatments usually provided in community mental health-care centers of the Parma Department of Mental Health. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: All the processes and procedures included in the PPI intervention model were first carefully illustrated, paying special attention to the service for newly admitted prisoners and each typology of specialized therapeutic-rehabilitation treatment potentially provided. Additionally, a preliminary descriptive process analysis of the first six months of clinical activity was also performed. FINDINGS: Since January 2020, 178 individuals entered the PPI service for newly admitted prisoners. In total, 83 (46.7%) of them were engaged in the services of the PPI mental health-care team (35 with pathological addiction and 48 with mental disorders): 56 prisoners were offered an integrated mental health intervention and 27 exclusively an individual psychological or psychiatric treatment. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The results support the potential applicability of an integrated mental health intervention in prison, planning a person-tailored rehabilitation in close collaboration with the prisoners, their families and the local mental health/social services.