Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Occupational Therapy Doctorate

Department

Brain Health

First Committee Member

Sharon Jalene

Number of Pages

84

Abstract

Justice-impacted adults often experience challenges in confidently managing their health due to limited autonomy, disrupted health routines, and limited access to health education during incarceration. Studies have shown that incarcerated adults have a higher likelihood of developing chronic health issues, yet have limited access to resources that promote health and well-being after release from incarceration. Given that health management falls within the scope of occupational therapy (OT), the profession is positioned to promote health and well-being by applying OT principles that emphasize individualized, holistic care tailored to a justice-impacted population during community reintegration. A 5-week health education program grounded in OT principles was developed and implemented at HOPE for Prisoners, a community-based reentry organization that supports individuals transitioning from incarceration.

This program delivered structured weekly, one-hour educational classes on health management, medication management, nutrition, general health literacy, and self-advocacy to communicate with healthcare teams. Educational materials were created to reflect the realistic needs of individuals who may encounter health challenges while also facing barriers to accessing healthcare, such as employment, stable housing, transportation, or limited health literacy. Participants provided feedback on their self-confidence levels after completing the program and during weekly topics. Participant feedback demonstrated meaningful improvements in selfconfidence in overall health management skills, as well as improvements in weekly topic areas. Future research should consider a longitudinal approach to further examine self-efficacy in applying skills taught in class, using a larger sample size to strengthen generalizability.

Keywords

Community reentry; Health education; Health literacy; Health management; Incarceration; Occupational therapy

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Occupational Therapy | Public Health

File Format

PDF

File Size

1443 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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