Centenial Celebration

Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.

Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 9:39 pm

Results for dental care

2 results found

Author: Albright, Danielle

Title: An Evaluation of a New Mexico Department of Corrections Dental Treatment Program: Findings from Participant Intake Interviews

Summary: In March 2008, the New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMDOC) Education Bureau, in collaboration with the NMDOC Probation and Parole Division, implemented a pilot dental repair program for parolees currently under NMDOC supervision. The intent of the program is to provide services for parolees with significant dental problems in hopes of reducing visible barriers to employment, thus increasing their chances of successful reentry. The program was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program. The NMDOC contracted the University of New Mexico Hospital Dentistry Department to perform dental treatments. The New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center (NMSAC) at the University of New Mexico‘s Institute for Social Research (ISR) was contracted to provide an evaluation of program implementation and outcomes. There is a substantial body of research suggesting that dental health is a major problem for prisoners. Researchers have consistently found that prisoners report significantly more dental problems than the general population (Lund et al., 2002; Mixson et al., 1990, O‘Brien and Lee, 2006, Salive, Corolla, & Brewer, 1989). While this clearly suggests a medical need for expanded dental treatment for prisoners, the prevalence of dental problems for prisoners may also have implications for reentry. Given the large prison population in United States today (Listwan et al., 2008) and that an estimated 67.5% of inmates are rearrested within three years of being released (Langan and Levin, 2002), the issue of prisoner reentry has been described as at "the forefront of domestic public policy" (Kubrin and Stewart, 2006: 166) and is currently receiving a large amount of attention from academics and practitioners. While a substantial body of research has investigated the individual factors associated with reentry success (Benedict & Huff-Cordine, 1997; Ulmer, 2001; Listwan et al., 2003), research on reentry has not yet examined the influence of dental health and dental treatment on recidivism. This may be an important oversight, as previous research suggests two mechanisms through which dental health may be linked to reentry success. First, a small body of research suggests that physical appearance is correlated with perceived criminality, affecting the way a person is treated by both the general public and the criminal justice system and therefore indirectly influencing recidivism outcomes (Bull, 1982). In this sense, improving the dental appearance of ex-offenders may reduce their perceived criminality, which in turn may result in more legitimate opportunities. Research also suggests that dental health and appearance are related to self-esteem (Patzer, 1995), which in turn is thought to be linked to desistance. More specifically, research suggests that self-appraisals of dental appearance were more strongly related to self-esteem than general appraisals of appearance (Kanealy et al., 1991) and that missing teeth were especially problematic (Oosterhaven, Westert, & Schaub, 1989). As a whole, this research indicates that negatively perceived dental appearance and poor dental health are related to decreased levels of self-esteem. Self-esteem, which is related to other social psychological constructs like self-efficacy and sense of control (Skinner, 1996), is thought to be an important component in the desistance process. This is exemplified by Maruna (2001, 2006), who argues that desistance is only possible when offenders adopt a prosocial identity and empirically demonstrates that self-perceptions are related to post release success (2004). Second, dental treatment may be related to employment success. Research has shown that dental and facial appearance is strongly correlated with evaluations of attractiveness and professionalism (Eli, Bar-Tal, & Kostovetzki, 2001) and that employer evaluations of attractiveness and professionalism are related to employability (Avrey & Campion, 1982; Rankin & Borah, 2003). Perhaps more importantly, research suggests that dental treatment is related to favorable occupational outcomes. While a host of other factors are likely to be more directly related to employment outcomes, early research on this topic revealed that five years after treatment, there was still a modest, yet significant, positive relationship between occupational rank and having received dental treatment (Rutzen, 1973). More recently, a study of dental intervention for welfare recipients found that individuals who participated in a dental treatment program and received all prescribed treatment were twice as likely to report a favorable or neutral employment outcome as individuals who did not complete the program (Hyde, Satariano, & Weintraub, 2006). The relationship between dental appearance and employability is important for evaluating the reentry process, as sociological and criminological research suggests that there may be a relationship between incarceration and unemployment (Freeman, 1992; Laub & Sampson, 1993), incarceration and earnings potential (Western, 2002; Western, Kling, & Weiman, 2001) and employment and recidivism (Uggen, 2000; Uggen & Staff, 2001). The issue of employability is of extra importance for ex-prisoners, as this population suffers from both a general lack of work-related skills (Graffam, Shinkfield, & Hardcastle, 2008) and from the stigma associated with being an ex-convict (Uggen, Manza, & Behrens, 2003).

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, 2009. 45p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2011 at: http://nmsac.unm.edu/contact_information/nmsac_publications/

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://nmsac.unm.edu/contact_information/nmsac_publications/

Shelf Number: 122933

Keywords:
Dental Care
Ex-Offenders, Employment
Health Care
Parolees
Prisoner Reentry (New Mexico)
Recidivism

Author: Albright, Danielle

Title: Reducing Barriers to Re-Entry: Assessing the Implementation and Impact of a Pilot Dental Repair Program for Parolees

Summary: In March 2008, the New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMDOC) Education Bureau, in collaboration with the NMDOC Probation and Parole Division, implemented a pilot dental repair program for parolees currently under NMDOC supervision. The intent of the program was to provide services for parolees with significant dental problems in hopes of reducing visible barriers to employment, thus increasing their chances of successful reentry. The program was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program. The NMDOC contracted with the University of New Mexico Hospital Dentistry Department to perform dental treatments. The New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) at the University of New Mexico’s Institute for Social Research (ISR) was contracted to provide an evaluation of program implementation and outcomes. The NMSAC issued a report in December, 2009, detailing program implementation. The current report focuses on program outcomes. The primary objectives for this report (continuing from the initial report) include:  Objective 4: To examine the effect of population characteristics (demographic, education, employment, criminal history, and corrections history) on three outcomes--completion of the dental treatment, completion of the program, and probation/parole performance.  Objective 5: To describe how participants articulate the impact of dental treatment on education, employment, and personal relationships. We will also compare participant reported effects to those anticipated prior to receiving the dental treatment.  Objective 6: To assess how participants experienced the dental treatment program from intake to completion. Here we focus on participant perceptions of the organization and delivery of the dental treatment program.  Objective 7: To assess the fidelity of program delivery with program goals and objectives.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, 2011. 34p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2011 at:

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 122934

Keywords:
Dental Care
Ex-Offenders, Employment
Health Care
Parolees
Prisoner Reentry (New Mexico)
Recidivism