Traumatic Brain Injury and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study of Incarcerated Adults

Abstract

State prisons incarcerate 1.06 million adults in the United States and, every year, release approximately 502,000 back to the community (Carson, 2021). Traumatic brain injury (TBI), defined as a head injury that disrupts normal function of the brain, is disproportionately experienced by individuals in prison, thus TBI is an important health concern for social workers who provide services to these adults. In fact, recent meta-analyses have found TBI prevalence to be approximately 51% in adults who are incarcerated versus 12% in the general population (Farrer & Hedges, 2011). TBI has important health consequences for returning citizens, since it is related to depression, anxiety, and substance abuse (McKinlay et al., 2014; Scholten et al., 2016). In addition to TBI, adults returning from prison suffer from a variety of other health problems. Infectious diseases such as hepatitis C are reported at levels five to eight times higher than among the general population (Varan et al., 2014), and chronic health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease are also experienced at higher rates by adults in prison (Binswanger et al., 2009).