Prisoner perspectives on mental health problems and help-seeking

Little is known about how prisoners perceive mental health problems or prospective sources of help. Applying a personal construct psychology approach, interviews were conducted with 12 adult male prisoners. Information from these interviews was used to construct a dependency grid, with problem situations on one axis, and possible help-sources on the other. A questionnaire containing this grid was completed by 177 prisoners. Recorded intentions to seek help from different sources varied considerably depending on the problem. Reasons given for help-source choice included the expected response, trust issues and perceived source skill level. Older participants recorded intentions to use a significantly narrower range of help-sources (χ2 (4, n = 168) = 9.57, p = 0.048) and greater intentions to use more formal help sources (χ2 (4, n = 162) = 12.73, p = 0.013). The study highlighted the importance of both formal and informal sources of help for mental health problems in prison, and suggested ways in which support might be improved.