Contact
Ricky Camplain, PhD
SHERC Research Project
Examining gender differences in physical activity opportunities and impacts while incarcerated
Each year, more than 9 million Americans are incarcerated in jail—facilities housing individuals awaiting trial and serving short sentences—with about 20 percent who are women. Women incarcerated have more chronic conditions, psychiatric disorders, and drug dependence than men, according to the investigators.
Ricky Camplain, assistant professor for CHER and the Department of Health Sciences, is studying physical activity and sedentary behavior and their impacts on health outcomes among incarcerated women.
The study’s long-term goal is to increase physical activity that improves physical and mental health in this population.
“Women are often overlooked when planning for health and wellness in correctional settings because they make up a minority of the population. Physical activity can mitigate poor health outcomes and have immediate effects,” Camplain said. “A single bout of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity improves anxiety symptoms, decreases blood pressure, and improves sleep on the day it is performed. But we want to know if the jail environment is conducive for physical activity, not just among men.”
The research objective for their project is to determine gender disparities in physical activity opportunities in two co-ed county jails and examine the impact of these disparities on the health of women who are incarcerated, before and after release.
The research team will interview jail staff and individuals incarcerated to determine leisure and work-related physical activity opportunities and activities while incarcerated.
Over a year, they will recruit a cohort of a total of 500 men and women incarcerated at two northern Arizona jails to understand gender-based differences in patterns of time spent in physical activity and sedentary time while incarcerated and how those patterns impact physical and mental health during and after incarceration. Using data collected from the cohort, they will simulate realistic interventions that decrease sedentary behavior and increase physical activity to then share back with the jail facilities.
Study aims
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- Describe gender-based leisure and work-related physical activity and sedentary behavior activities and opportunities in two northern Arizona jails. To identify jail initiatives that impact physical activity and sedentary behavior opportunities, semi-structured, interviews will be completed with 15 staff and administrators and 15 individuals incarcerated at each jail facility (CCDF and YCDC). Content analysis will be completed of policies and procedures manuals and jail records which document scheduled physical activity and SED activities during incarceration.
- Describe gender-based differences in patterns of time spent in physical activity and sedentary behavior while incarcerated, overall and by activity domain. Using baseline data from a one-year prospective cohort, we hypothesize that
men who are incarcerated will report more PA and less sedentary behavior in both work and leisure-time activities compared to women who are incarcerated, as measured by four-day time-use diaries. - Determine the impact of physical activity and SED on health during and after incarceration among individuals incarcerated in two northern Arizona jails. Using a 1-year prospective cohort design among 500 women and men incarcerated, we hypothesize that compared to those who engage in more physical activity and less sedentary behavior, those with lower PA and higher sedentary behavior levels while incarcerated will have greater deterioration in blood pressure, weight gain, body composition, sleep quality, stress, depression, and anxiety while incarcerated and after release from jail. We will determine effect measure modification by women and men.
- Estimate the probable impact of sedentary behavior and physical activity interventions to improve health outcomes. Using data from the proposed cohort study, we hypothesize that under realistic conditions, simulated interventions to increase PA and to SED will improve health of women and men during incarceration.
Study impact
Access to opportunities to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior in jails is a health equity issue. The collection of primary, longitudinal data to inform simulated interventions, which hold promise to impact physical activity and sedentary behavior among women in jail facilities, will provide information to the jails’ administration for recommended programmatic and policy changes.
Funding: The study is funded by NIMHD/NIH U54MD012388
About the investigators
Ricky Camplain, PhD
Heather Williamson, DrPH, OT
Joseph Mihaljevic, PhD
Hendrik de Heer, PhD
