Passport to Freedom: A Trauma-Informed Mindfulness Program for Previously Incarcerated Women.
Patty R Wilson, Emma Jagasia, Jennifer Lee and 6 others
PMID 38166595WHAT IT FOUND
A six-session mindfulness program for recently incarcerated women did not significantly lower depression, stress, or violence scores.
Participants reported high satisfaction and used the breathing techniques daily, but the small sample size cannot prove the intervention works.
Key findings
01Pre-post changes in depression, stress, and intimate partner violence scores were not statistically significant, though IPV scores showed the largest numerical decrease.
02Participants reported high satisfaction, with 84% stating they practiced the learned mindfulness exercises and 84% saying they would recommend the program.
03The intervention was delivered alongside existing services including drug treatment programs and antidepressant medications, making it impossible to separate the effect of mindfulness from these concurrent supports.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only 24 women, which is too small to detect meaningful changes in outcomes or to generalize the findings to a broader population. There was no control group, so it is impossible to know if the observed trends in scores were due to the intervention or other factors. Participants were already receiving other treatments, including drug treatment programs and antidepressant medications, so the specific contribution of the mindfulness program cannot be isolated. The follow-up period was short, lasting only four weeks after the completion of the six-week program.
Declared interests
The authors disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the numerical decrease in violence and depression scores as evidence that the program works. These changes were not statistically significant, and the small sample size means the results could easily be due to chance or the concurrent treatments participants were already receiving.