Effectiveness of an HIV Prevention Program for Women Visiting Their Incarcerated Partners: The HOME Project

Having an incarcerated partner presents a unique HIV risk for women, particularly low-income women of color. We developed a population-specific risk reduction intervention for women visiting men in prison that was peer educator-based and included individual and community-level intervention components. Women who were assessed prior to the intervention period had a positive association between the number of unprotected penetrative intercourse (UPI) episodes prior to their partners’ incarceration and the number of UPI episodes following partners’ release from prison. However, this association was negated among women assessed during the intervention. Intervention participants also were more likely to be tested for HIV, to have partners who got tested, and to talk with their partners about significantly more HIV-related topics. Conducting intervention and evaluation activities with women visiting incarcerated men is feasible and is a useful model for reaching more at-risk women

The well-being of children of incarcerated mothers: An exploratory study for the Netherlands

Little empirical research exists on children whose mothers are incarcerated. We examined Dutch children's experiences regarding their mother's incarceration, using a mixed methods approach. We found that, although children stay in various care-giving situations, a large proportion of them were already living apart from their mothers when maternal incarceration started. The children report elevated levels of problem behaviour and decreased well-being. There is evidence that these may also be due to the negative life events they experienced before their mother's incarceration. Recommendations for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2011